Amazon Layoffs Increase to 18,000 As Economy Slows

Amazon will eliminate another 8,000 jobs, mostly across its Amazon Stores – or main website, warehouse and retail operations – and human resources divisions, CEO Andy Jassy told employees in an email Wednesday.

It was expected that the announcement would be made after the massive e-commerce company. started layoffs in November They warned that there were more to come. It is believed that around 10,000 employees were affected by the November cuts. They came from its devices division which produces Alexa and Astro, a less well-known home robot.

When the layoffs are over, the company will have 18,000 less employees.

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Amazon does not plan to move hourly warehouse workers. Amazon is known for relying on high attrition in this area to reduce its workforce. It appears to not target Amazon Studios.

Jassy said in the email the company’s annual review “has been more difficult” given the uncertain economy combined with the surge of hiring in the past few years amid the explosion of online shopping during the pandemic.

The cuts in the human resources division, which Amazon calls its “People, Experience, and Technology” unit, come on top of voluntary buyouts that were offered amid the November layoffs.

Jassy indicated that the company intended to inform the employees personally about the cuts before making them public.

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“We typically wait to communicate about these outcomes until we can speak with the people who are directly impacted,” the email said. “However, because one of our teammates leaked this information externally, we decided it was better to share this news earlier so you can hear the details directly from me.

It was initially planned to notify those who were losing their job Jan. 18.

“These changes will help us pursue our long-term opportunities with a stronger cost structure; however, I’m also optimistic that we’ll be inventive, resourceful, and scrappy in this time when we’re not hiring expansively and eliminating some roles,” Jassy wrote. “Companies that last a long time go through different phases. They’re not in heavy people expansion mode every year.”

Amazon layoffs are part of a wave that saw job losses at other tech companies like Meta, the parent company of Facebook. 11,000-person layoff Early November. On Wednesday, Salesforce, a giant business software company, announced that it will be laying off approximately 8,000 employees, or 10%, and Vimeo, a video platform, that will cut 11%. Twitter, Stripe, and Doordash were among the nearly 11,000 tech companies that laid off almost 154,000 employees in 2022 according to data from Layoffs.fyiThis site tracks the state of the tech industry’s job market.

Amazon shares were flat in the early trading. The stock gained only 4 cents to $85.18. They are about the same as they were in early 2019, before their surge due to COVID.

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