Amazon cuts another 16,000 jobs

US giant Amazon plans to cut another 16,000 jobs. This was announced by HR chief Beth Galetti in a message to all employees, which the company published on Wednesday. In October last year, Amazon had already cut 14,000 jobs.

Amazon wants to streamline its structures and work more with artificial intelligence. The goal is to reduce management levels and internal bureaucracy, Galetti emphasizes. This is likely to mainly affect administrative jobs in various corporate divisions such as AWS, Prime Video, and Retail.

30,000 jobs gone in total

In October, it was already mentioned that a total of around 30,000 jobs would be impacted. This is only a small part of Amazon's total workforce of over 1.5 million employees, the majority of whom work in shipping and large distribution centers. It corresponds to about ten percent of office jobs.

In parallel, Amazon is creating new jobs in growth areas. Affected employees will be given 90 days to find another job within the company. Furthermore, Amazon offers impacted employees counseling, severance pay, insurance benefits, and other assistance.

On Tuesday, it became known that Amazon is focusing on the “Whole Foods” chain, acquired in 2017, in the grocery retail sector and is closing its “Amazon Fresh” and “Amazon Go” stores. This impacts 72 locations in the USA.

Big Tech lays off thousands

“Some of you may be wondering if this is the beginning of a new rhythm where we announce sweeping layoffs every few months. That is not our plan,” Galetti assures in the memo. However, “adjustments” must be made where necessary.

This continues the large-scale layoffs at “Big Tech.” Large corporations began laying off thousands of employees two years ago. Efficiency gains through artificial intelligence are often cited as an argument; however, the term no longer appears in Galetti's announcement. With the mass layoffs, Big Tech is also correcting the massive job growth during the Corona pandemic.

(vbr)