With the number remaining fluid because individual teams are implementing the cuts, Amazonaims to eliminate about 10,000 jobs. Until now, Amazon had managed to avoid mass layoffs by offering workers impacted by project closures the opportunity to transfer to other divisions within the company.
Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel said in a statement, “As we’ve gone through this, given the current macro-economic environment, some teams are making adjustments, which in some cases means certain roles are no longer necessary.”
The job cuts represent a stark reversal for Amazon, which nearly doubled its workforce between the end of 2019 to 2021 from about 800,000 employees globally to 1.6 million–during a pandemic-fueled hiring spree.
Job cuts are hitting the tech sector hard after years of rampant growth.
Facebook parentMeta last weeklaid off 13 percent of its staff, while Twitter,Shopify,Salesforce, and Stripe have also announced cuts. Former District 6 Supervisor Jane Kim says, “It's certainly a net negative when our fastest-growing industry is beginning layoffs.”
The Amazon layoff represents the biggest cut in the company’s 28-year history–leaving bay area residents concerned about the trickling effects that more tech layoffs will have on San Francisco.
