Wells Fargo announces another round of layoffs in October and November in West Des Moines

More layoffs are coming at Wells Fargo shortly before the holiday season.

The bank has filed an amendment with the state’s Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, or WARN, site for an additional 47 employees to be laid off effective Nov. 18.

The company also had announced amendments in August affecting 19 workers, effective in October.

All of the jobs being eliminated are at Wells Fargo’s Jordan Creek campus in West Des Moines.

Wells Fargo referred questions about which previous layoffs were being amended to Iowa Workforce Development, which did not respond to an email from the Des Moines Register seeking additional information.

Wells Fargo layoffs latest in a long series of reductions

The latest announced layoffs will bring the total Wells Fargo workforce reduction in the Des Moines metro to 285 so far in 2024 and 949 since April 2022.

In January 2023, with interest rates on the rise, the company announced it was throttling its home mortgage business, which is headquartered in the metro. The latest layoff notices did not indicate which division of the company was reducing jobs.

Wells Fargo Vice President Michael Slusark released the prepared statement issued after each layoff announcement.

“We regularly review and adjust staffing levels to align with market conditions and the needs of our businesses," Slusark said. "We work very hard to identify opportunities for employees in other parts of the company so we can retain as many employees as possible. Where it’s not possible, we provide assistance, such as severance and career counseling."

In July, Wells Fargo CEO Charlie Scharf said in an earnings call with analysts it was the 16th consecutive quarter the company's "head count has continued to decline." Over the past year, San Francisco-based Wells Fargo has cut a total of 11,290 jobs, second-quarter data show.

Wells Fargo was long the metro’s largest employer but has been eclipsed in the last year by Hy-Vee, which has its headquarters in West Des Moines. The most recent listing of Des Moines region’s largest employers by the Greater Des Moines Partnership lists Hy-Vee on top with 11,782 employees while Wells Fargo second, with “more than 11,000.”

That number had been as high as 14,500 in 2017.

Iowa unemployment rate rises slightly

Thursday's announcement came as Iowa Workforce Development announced the state's unemployment rate had ticked up to 2.9% in August from 2.8% in July. The agency also reported that workforce participation fell t 66.3% in August from 66.4% the previous month.

“National headwinds continue to cause Iowa employers some collective concern about uncertainty in the U.S. economy,” said Beth Townsend, executive director of Iowa Workforce Development. “This might explain the sluggish hiring we are seeing now. However, opportunities still exist, as Iowa’s unemployment level remains low and there are more than 54,000 job openings posted on IowaWORKS.gov."

Kevin Baskins covers jobs and the economy for the Des Moines Register. Reach him at kbaskins@registermedia.com.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Wells Fargo announces more layoffs at West Des Moines campus