%1

Envision Healthcare is planning to file for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, capping one of the biggest losses ever for the physician-staffing company’s backers at private-equity firm KKR, the Wall Street Journal reported. The bankruptcy filing, which could be made as soon as this weekend, will wipe out the investment of KKR, which took Envision private in a $5.5 billion buyout in 2018. Including debt, the deal was worth about $10 billion, making it one of KKR’s largest investments in the health care industry. Envision now has around $7 billion of debt outstanding, much of which trades at under 10 cents on the dollar as the company’s finances have steadily deteriorated over the last two years. They have been pressured by high labor costs, a bruising battle with insurer UnitedHealth and federal legislation that took aim at a key component of Envision’s business model. Much of Envision’s debt will be swapped for shares in the reorganized company. Envision had been exploring a chapter 11 bankruptcy filing to restructure its debt burden, The Wall Street Journal previously reported. The company missed a March 31 deadline to report quarterly financials and skipped an interest payment due in April, setting the clock on a 30-day grace period before its lenders could push the company into an involuntary bankruptcy.

U.S. retailers replaced technology firms in cutting the most number of jobs in April, as companies show little signs of easing their belt-tightening drive in an uncertain economy, Reuters reported. Higher interest rates to counter the impact of inflation have muddied the outlook for the U.S. economy, forcing Corporate America to undertake stringent measures to protect itself from any fallout from a potential recession. The sector has cut 36,000 jobs this year, which is still well below the 114,000 jobs cut by technology companies, including Meta Platforms Inc and Amazon.com Inc , according to a report by Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. "Retailers and Consumer Goods Manufacturers are preparing for a tightening in consumer spending, particularly with the Fed's hike to interest rates in an attempt to control inflation," said Andrew Challenger, senior vice president at the firm. So far this year, major retail and consumer companies including Gap Inc and Walmart have announced job cuts. The report also said job cuts last month fell 25% to about 67,000 - the lowest so far in the year, taking total layoffs to around 337,000 jobs since the start of the year.

Jenny Craig, the weight loss and nutrition business backed by HIG Capital, will shut down after four decades of operation after failing to secure additional financing, according to an employee, Bloomberg News reported. Management informed workers of the news in an email on Tuesday, and company-owned centers where members pick up meals, consult with coaches and weigh in are closed as of yesterday, the employee said, adding that franchise-owned locations may remain open. Jenny Craig had been seeking a buyer as it struggles amid increased competition, including against much-hyped new weight-loss drugs. With about 500 North American locations and around 600 centers worldwide, Jenny Craig was also hurt by the COVID-19 pandemic as customers stayed home. Bloomberg News previously reported that the company was mulling bankruptcy if a buyer didn’t surface. The company also had plans to move to an online-only model, but it’s unclear whether that will happen, the employee said.

Hospitals are joining the gig economy. Some of the nation’s largest hospital systems including Providence and Advocate Health are using apps similar to ride-hailing technology to attract scarce nurses, the Wall Street Journal reported. An app from ShiftKey lets workers bid for shifts. Another, CareRev, helps hospitals adjust pay to match supply, lowering rates for popular shifts and raising them to entice nurses to work overnight or holidays. The embrace of gig work puts hospitals in more direct competition with the temporary-staffing agencies that siphoned away nurses during the pandemic. The apps help extend hospitals’ labor pool beyond their employees to other local nurses who value the highly flexible schedules of gig work. The shift is among many ways hospitals are revamping hiring, schedules and pay to give nurses more control and to fill staffing gaps created by persistent labor shortages. Vacancies are straining many hospitals’ operations despite recent hiring gains at hospitals and reports of softer demand from some temporary-staffing companies.

U.S. employers maintained a strong pace of hiring in March, pushing the unemployment rate back down to 3.5% and signaling labor market resilience that will keep the Federal Reserve on track to raise interest rates one more time next month, Reuters reported. The Labor Department's closely watched employment report on Friday showed that annual wage gains slowed but remained too high to be consistent with the U.S. central bank's 2% inflation target. The release capped a week dominated by data, including upward revisions to the weekly state unemployment and continuing claims, that had suggested labor market conditions were easing. Nonfarm payrolls increased by 236,000 jobs last month, the survey of establishments showed. Data for February was revised higher to show 326,000 jobs added instead of the previously reported 311,000. Job growth averaged 345,000 per month in the first quarter, more than triple the pace needed to keep up with growth in the working-age population.