Merkle lays off 36

Database marketing agency Merkle Inc. laid off a total of 36 employees, two last week and 34 this week, according to a company spokesperson.

A large number of those let go were from the account management side of the business assigned to financial services clients.

“As clients are cutting their market spends, we have to adjust accordingly,” said the spokesperson, adding that the cutbacks accounted for approximately 3.5% of the company's work force.

There were 19 people let go from Merkle's Maryland office. The rest were scattered across the company's other offices.

Merkle continues to hire, however, in other verticals that are growing, such as pharmaceutical and retail.

“We are diverse enough that when we start seeing a slow down in some verticals, there's often an upswing in others,” said the spokesperson.