Hiring has completely ground to a halt

I've been tracking open positions at Merck for a while now, and it's like the faucet just turned off. A few months ago, there were tons of roles opening up, especially in [mention a department like R&D or IT]. Now? Very little movement. Even roles that were posted and then paused seem to be permanently off the radar. My own team was supposed to hire two new people this quarter, and that's been indefinitely postponed. It's not just a slow-down; it feels like a full stop. I'm starting to think it's more than just a seasonal lull. Is this a company-wide hiring freeze? What does this mean for future growth and opportunities within Merck? Feels like a bad omen, even if there's no official word on layoffs. Just feels like the company is holding its breath.