UNITED STATES: Amazon has announced to cut over 18000 jobs from its workforce as a part of previously disclosed labour reductions, after more than 100,000 employees of major U.S. firms lost their jobs in 2022 amid mounting recession fears.
While making the announcement on Wednesday, the tech behemoth cited the “uncertain economy” and the fact that it had “hired rapidly” over the last several years.
Amazon’s CEO, Andy Jassy, stated in a note to employees that “Between the reductions we made in November and the ones we’re sharing today, we plan to eliminate just over 18,000 roles.”
The firm’s e-commerce and human resources departments will be significantly impacted by the layoff decisions, about which Amazon will communicate with impacted employees starting on January 18, he added.
The layoffs affect 6% of Amazon’s approximately 300,000-person corporate workforce and mark a sharp flip for a company that recently quadrupled its base salary threshold in an effort to attract talent more aggressively.
After Walmart Inc. (WMT.N), Amazon is the second-largest private employer in America with more than 1.5 million employees, including warehouse staff.
In after-hours trading, the shares increased by 2%.
Amazon has prepared for potentially slower growth as rising inflation has prompted businesses and consumers to reduce spending and as its share price has fallen by half in the past year.
In November, the company intended to lay off roughly 10,000 employees from its devices division, according to a source at the time.
The tech sector laid off more than 150,000 employees in 2022, and the number is anticipated to climb, according to the tracking website Layoffs.fyi.
On Wednesday, Salesforce Inc. (CRM.N) disclosed that it planned to fire around 10% of its staff, which numbered close to 8,000 as of October 31.
Amazon’s job cuts now surpass layoffs at other tech industry peers, including Facebook-parent Meta platforms, with 11,000 workforce reductions.
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