Amazon cuts 16,000 jobs globally to undo pandemic-era hiring amid AI push

[SAN FRANCISCO] Amazon said on Wednesday (Jan 28) it was cutting 16,000 jobs worldwide in the second major round of layoffs at the company in three months, as it restructures after pandemic-era over-hiring and expands the adoption of artificial intelligence tools.

Reuters first reported last week that Amazon was planning a second round of job cuts as part of a broader goal of trimming about 30,000 corporate roles, with the layoffs expected to affect workers in Amazon Web Services, retail, Prime Video and human resources departments.

Amazon slashed 14,000 white-collar jobs in late October, with CEO Andy Jassy stressing the need for the company to eliminate excessive bureaucracy by trimming operational levels and reducing the number of managers.

The job cuts also underscore how artificial intelligence is changing corporate workforce dynamics. Significant improvements in AI assistants are helping enterprises execute duties from routine administrative tasks to complex coding problems with rapid speed and precision, driving widespread adoption.

Jassy had said last summer that the increased use of AI tools would lead to more automation of duties, resulting in corporate job losses.

The 30,000 jobs would together represent a small portion of Amazon’s 1.58 million employees, but nearly 10 per cent of its corporate workforce. The majority of Amazon’s workers are in fulfillment centres and warehouses.

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Tech giants, including Amazon, Facebook-parent Meta Platforms and Microsoft, had sharply ramped up hiring during the Covid-19 pandemic demand surge and have lately been restructuring their workforce.

Amazon has also been investing in robotics at its warehouses to speed up packaging and deliveries for its e-commerce segment, reduce the reliance on human labour and cutting costs.