QUICK TAKES - March 13, 2009

Trying to maintain “budgetary equilibrium” in a bleak economy, New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art said Thursday it was cutting 74 positions from its merchandising staff immediately and plans to trim the rest of its workforce by about 10% before July 1.

Thursday’s reductions -- which the museum said represented 27% of its full-time and 9% of its part-time retail positions -- come on top of 53 other jobs that previously were eliminated by closing eight satellite stores around the country, including Century City and Pasadena.

The move was made necessary by “recent losses in retail revenues as well as prospective, significant and long-term reductions in annual operating income for the museum from its endowment,” the Met said.

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Lee Margulies