Amazon Layoffs To Affect 10,000 Employees: Report

The New York Times reported on Monday, citing unnamed persons with knowledge of the situation, that Amazon plans to fire some 10,000 workers in corporate and technology positions.

Also on Monday, The Wall Street Journal also reported that Amazon is set to lay off thousands of workers.

The Times report claims that the job cuts could begin as soon as this week and that they will most likely affect employees who work on Amazon devices as well as those who work in its retail and human resources divisions.

"The total number of layoffs remains fluid," The NY Times stated.

The announcement would make Amazon the latest in a string of major firms to announce significant layoffs in recent weeks, amid greater economic uncertainties and a steep decrease in the demand that many tech titans faced during the pandemic, which prompted them to hastily recruit employees. Meta, the parent company of Facebook, revealed this week that it is cutting off 11,000 employees.

While other sectors of the economy were disrupted, the tech industry, which appeared to be indestructible in early 2020, only got more dominant. Consumers have transferred their spending online. The Federal Reserve kept interest rates around zero at the time, making it simpler for internet companies to get money. And valuations for technology companies in the private and public markets only seemed to rise.

However, once the world started to open again, many customers went back to their offline lives. In the meantime, after years of strong expansion, soaring inflation, and worries about an impending recession have reduced consumer and advertiser spending, affecting the fundamental operations of many of the largest names in technology.

Amazon announced earlier this month that it was halting corporate hiring "for the next few months" due to the current state of the economy and "how many people we have hired" recently. As the pandemic changed consumer spending and purchasing patterns in favor of online shopping, Amazon quickly increased its workforce.

The news of impending layoffs comes at a critical moment for the retail industry, as the holiday shopping season approaches. Despite recession fears and inflationary pressures, the National Retail Federation predicts a 6% to 8% increase in Christmas sales over last year.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos tweeted last month on the possibility of a recession, adding, "the probabilities in this economy tell you to batten down the hatches."

Amazon forecasted lower Christmas quarter sales than experts predicted in its most recent earnings report.

So far in 2022, Amazon shares have plummeted more than 40% amid a larger market slump.