Pearson to lay off 37 in Cedar Rapids

CEDAR RAPIDS — The Pearson Educational and Testing Co. plans to lay off 37 people at its Cedar Rapids operations by June 1.

The company, with a Cedar Rapids office at 9200 Earhart Lane SW, disclosed the layoffs in a Workforce Adjustment and Retraining Act notice filed with Iowa Workforce Development.

Last December, Pearson cut 50 jobs at its Iowa City facility and closed the office.

"We understand that these changes are difficult for those who are affected,“ a Pearson spokesman stated in an email to The Gazette this week. ”We offered ample notification, voluntary resignation opportunities, generous severance package, and outplacement services to help colleagues transition.“

Pearson is a British educational publishing and testing company with five business divisions and 20,000 employees worldwide.

Its 2021 annual report showed the company's average number of employees declined from 24,322 in 2018 to 20,744. Most of the employees — 11,670 — are in the United States, with more than 3,000 in the United Kingdom and nearly 6,000 elsewhere.

“Pearson continues to hold a presence in Cedar Rapids and Iowa with hundreds of colleagues committed to serving students, educators and school districts," the Pearson spokesman said in the email.

“We are the world’s leading learning company, serving customers in 200 countries with digital content, assessments, qualifications and data,” the spokesman said.