Amazon Reportedly to Fire 17,000 Employees Amid Economic Downturn

• The worldwide spread of the Covid virus really helped the firm earlier.
• As of the third quarter of 2022, Amazon had 1.5 million employees.

Amid growing economic uncertainty, Amazon froze new hires at the start of Q4 2022. Following that, rumors spread that the tech behemoth planned to lay off more than 10,000 workers. Employees in the devices division, human resources, and retail were disproportionately affected.

A recent article in The WSJ cited unnamed people familiar with the situation to make the case that this figure is now significantly higher. More than 17,000 people might be affected by the layoffs.

Initiated last year, Amazon’s mass layoffs of thousands of workers are still ongoing. According to the WSJ’s sources, the remaining layoffs will be implemented over the next several weeks.

Reducing Expenses Post Covid

As of the third quarter of 2022, Amazon had 1.5 million employees. Most of them were employed at the company’s storage facilities. Anonymous sources have revealed that the current round of layoffs affects largely management and administrative staff.

The worldwide spread of the Covid virus really helped the firm. Online retailers saw a surge in business as consumers rushed there in masse. The firm quadrupled its logistics network and hired several new workers to keep up with the rapid growth in demand.

While demand was expanding as the situation was getting back on track, it began to decline as things stabilized. That’s because people suddenly started buying things in physical shops again. That’s why Amazon has begun a comprehensive study of ways to reduce expenses and boost profits.

One percent of the company’s worldwide workforce and three percent of its corporate workforce were affected by the layoffs. But the current tally is far larger. Several people in the community have voiced their opinion that this recent turn of events is not a positive omen.