UnitedHealth’s Optum cuts more than 800 jobs this year, the latest in New Jersey

Optum, the health services division at Minnetonka-based UnitedHealth Group, is laying off about 160 workers in New Jersey.

The job cuts will take effect in December, according to a regulatory filing this week, and follow announcements earlier this year that Optum would eliminate 524 jobs in California and 129 jobs in Ohio.

The positions that were eliminated in other states had to be reported because they fit the requirements laid out in the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act.

UnitedHealth Group has not announced any cuts in Minnesota nor filed a WARN notice of layoffs in the state, where the company employs more than 19,000 people. The company declined to give any details on employment changes in Minnesota.

Global employment this spring at UnitedHealth was 400,000 people.

“We continually review the capabilities and services we offer to meet the growing and evolving needs of our businesses and the people we serve,” UnitedHealth Group said in a statement. “As always, we will support affected team members with job placement resources and seek to deploy them where possible to any open roles within the company.”

UnitedHealth Group’s Optum division includes a large pharmacy benefits management business as well as a divisions for IT consulting and direct patient care through outpatient medical centers. UnitedHealth also owns UnitedHealthcare, which is the nation’s largest health insurer.

In July, Chief Executive Andrew Witty told investors that efficiency gains helped the company maintain its earnings guidance despite growing costs from a massive cyberattack at the company’s Change Healthcare business. Witty did not say if job cuts were a factor.

For many years, UnitedHealth Group’s headcount has grown significantly on an annual basis, although this year could become an exception.

In April, Witty told investors the company employed 400,000 people — a figure that was down about 10% from the 440,000 listed as the year-end 2023 tally in a regulatory filing. A company spokesman said UnitedHealth Group’s divestiture of its health care and insurance business in Brazil was part of the decline, but not the only factor.

A search Friday of the company’s online job listings showed more than 3,600 openings, most within Optum.