Amazon to Lay Off Another 9,000 Employees

Amazon has announced that it will lay off 9,000 employees in yet another round of redundancies initiated by the online retail giant this year.

Amazon president and CEO Jeff Jassy cited an “uncertain economy” and cost-cutting as reasons for the redundancies.

The company, which employs 1.5 million people across the world, is one of several large multinationals that have been initiating significant redundancies since last year.

Amazon redundancies

According to the firm, the 9,000 layoffs will occur in several areas, including cloud computing, advertising, and Twitch live-streaming units.

“This was a difficult decision, but one that we think is best for the company long term,” said Amazon boss Andy Jassy in a letter to employees.

“Given the uncertain economy in which we reside, and the uncertainty that exists in the near future, we have chosen to be more streamlined in our costs and headcount,” Jassy continued.

The “uncertain economy” mentioned by Jassy is likely a reference to the cost of living crisis, which has resulted in consumers spending less money on goods and services.

“As our internal businesses evaluated what customers most care about, they made re-prioritization decisions that sometimes led to role reductions, sometimes led to moving people from one initiative to another, and sometimes led to new openings where we don’t have the right skills match from our existing team members,” he added.

“To those ultimately impacted by these reductions, I want to thank you for the work you have done on behalf of customers and the company. It’s never easy to say goodbye to our teammates, and you will be missed,” Jassy concluded.

Are mass redundancies a growing economic trend?

This is not the first time this year that Amazon has announced it will lay off a large number of its workers.

In January, the multinational company announced that it would make 18,000 of its employees redundant. It was the largest dismissal of workers in the firm’s 28-year history.

At the time, Jassy again cited “uncertain and difficult economies” as leading causes for the mass redundancies.

Amazon has not been the only major multinational firm to announce job losses in recent months. Earlier this month, Meta, the parent company of Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram, outlined plans to cut 10,000 jobs.

According to the social media and technology giant, the redundancies would affect recruiting teams and tech groups in late April, and then business groups in late May.

Other companies that have announced significant job losses include Twitter, Microsoft, Alphabet (the owner of Google), and business software firm Salesforce.

The recent rounds of redundancies, particularly in the tech sector, have led to debate amongst economists as to whether they signal further woes for the economy as a whole.