As Amazon continues to struggle to save costs in the current economic climate, the company has released a statement saying it plans to cut over 18,000 jobs in the coming months.
This is the largest number of jobs that Amazon has cut since its launch, and the situation is being blamed on sales slowing down after the huge growth seen during the pandemic.
As consumers are spending less time at home and cutting their online shopping spending, Amazon has experienced a downturn in its revenue. There has also been a reduction in advertising revenue, as other businesses continue to look for ways to save money.
Since 2019, Amazon has employed an additional 743,000 people. However, it’s likely that the tech giant will start to cut back in the next few months and years due to the global economy.
Amazon currently employs 1.5 million people globally. In its memo, the company said that most of the job losses will be in consumer retail and human resources, although it hasn’t confirmed which countries would be affected by the job losses yet.
The statement says: “We don’t take these decisions lightly or underestimate how much they might affect the lives of those who are impacted. Companies that last a long time go through different phases. They’re not in heavy people expansion mode every year.”
This follows previous announcements that Amazon will start cutting back on other parts of its business, including product development. For example, projects like the Echo and personal delivery robots are being postponed or scaled back.
Amazon said last year that it would reduce its headcount and had already stopped hiring new staff, as well as stopping some of its warehouse expansions, noting that it had over-hired in the COVID-19 pandemic.
Over tech firms, including Meta and Twitter, have also recently announced job losses due to concerns about an economic downturn.
