Milwaukee’s Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. plans to lay off an unspecified number of employees. A written statement from communications director Betsy Hoylman said the cuts are part of an effort to streamline operations in the face of historically low interest rates.
“One of the key reasons Northwestern Mutual has thrived for nearly 160 years is that we continuously evaluate our business to ensure we remain competitive and do what is best for our clients,” the statement reads. “As we continue to make strategic investments to meet the future needs of our clients, we also have a responsibility to manage our business as efficiently as possible. This is especially important as unprecedented low interest rates are putting pressure on companies across our industry.”
According to the Milwaukee Business Journal, the company employs 5,900 people, making it the metro area’s ninth-highest employer.
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Kundan Kishor, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee economics professor, said the long stretch of low interests in the United States and abroad is putting pressure on the financial services industry.
“They make money by getting deposits and making loans and they make money on the difference and that’s called interest rate spread, what low interest rates at the moment has done is that it has really reduced the spread,” Kishor said.
Kishor said the interest rates are a symptom of the still-sluggish economic recovery.
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