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Amazon To Cut 18,000 Jobs Citing 'Uncertain Economy'

Amazon said that its leadership is aware that these layoffs are difficult for people and it does not take these decisions lightly.

<div class="paragraphs"><p>Source: Twitter&nbsp;@amazonIN</p></div>
Source: Twitter @amazonIN

In what comes as the largest set of layoffs in the US e-commerce giant’s history, Amazon has announced that it will cut more than 18,000 jobs from its workforce. The company has cited “the uncertain economy” as the reason for the layoffs. Earlier in November 2022, As per NYT - Amazon had announced it would layoff around 10,000 employees likely targeting Amazon’s devices group, responsible for the Echo smart speakers and Alexa digital assistant.

In a note to the company’s employees on Wednesday, January 4, 2023, Amazon’s Chief Executive Officer Andy Jassy said “Between the reductions we made in November and the ones we’re sharing today, we plan to eliminate just over 18,000 roles.” 

Jassy added that Amazon had weathered uncertain and difficult economies in the past and would continue to do so. “These changes will help us pursue our long-term opportunities with a stronger cost structure.”

These job cuts amount to 6% of Amazon’s approximate corporate workforce. The company has a global workforce of more than 1.5 million.

Andy Jassy said the job cuts would mostly impact Amazon’s brick-and-mortar stores, including Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go, and the company’s PXT organisations that take care of its human resources and other functions.

Jassy did not specify the location of the affected roles. However, in the statement, he said that Amazon would contact the impacted employees “or where applicable in Europe, with employee representative bodies” from January 18, 2023.

In November 2022, Jassy told Amazon staff members that these layoffs were due to the economic landscape and Amazon’s rapid hiring in the past years. His announcement on Wednesday included earlier layoffs that had not been numbered. The US-based e-commerce company has been cutting costs in other areas of its business and had also offered voluntary buyouts.

Also Read: Top Layoffs Of 2022: From Meta, Amazon To Twitter, Byjus, And Microsoft