Huge Amazon job cuts

[Shaun @ Tru6]

The good news is laid off workers will be able to pay more for electricity with AI directly/indirectly taking their jobs.

Reuters

Amazon targets as many as 30,000 corporate job cuts, sources say

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Amazon (AMZN.O), opens new tab is planning to cut as many as 30,000 corporate jobs beginning on Tuesday, as the company pares expenses and compensates for overhiring during the peak demand of the pandemic, according to three people familiar with the matter.

The figure represents a small percentage of Amazon's 1.55 million total employees, but nearly 10% of its roughly 350,000 corporate employees. This would mark Amazon's largest job cut since late 2022, when it started to eliminate around 27,000 positions.

An Amazon spokesperson declined to comment.

Amazon has been trimming smaller numbers of jobs over the past two years across multiple divisions, including devices, communications and podcasting. The cuts beginning this week may affect a variety of divisions, including human resources, known as People Experience and Technology or PXT; operations, devices and services; and Amazon Web Services, the people said.

Managers of impacted teams were asked to undergo training on Monday for how to communicate with staff following email notifications that will start going out on Tuesday morning, the people said.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy is undertaking an initiative to reduce what he has described as an excess of bureaucracy, including by reducing the number of managers. He installed an anonymous complaint line for identifying inefficiencies that has elicited some 1,500 responses and over 450 process changes, he said earlier this year.

Jassy said in June that the increased use of artificial intelligence tools would likely lead to further job cuts, particularly through automating repetitive and routine tasks.

"This latest move signals that Amazon is likely realizing enough AI-driven productivity gains within corporate teams to support a substantial reduction in force," said Sky Canaves, an eMarketer analyst. "Amazon has also been under pressure in the short-term to offset the long-term investments in building out its AI infrastructure."



WSJ

Amazon Lays Off 14,000 Corporate Workers
Plans call for cuts of up to 30,000 jobs, or roughly 10% of the online giant’s white-collar workforce

By Sean McLain

Investors have grown more concerned over the run-up in tech stocks and valuations of private AI companies, stoking fears of a bubble. WSJ’s Hannah Erin Lang uses three charts to explain what’s behind Wall Street’s jitters.

Amazon.com announced job cuts of 14,000 workers Tuesday, a first move in layoffs that are expected to affect as many as 30,000 corporate jobs, according to people familiar with the matter.

The reductions are the latest cost-cutting move for the tech giant, which is seeking to slim down and conserve cash, the people said. The planned cuts, which won’t all happen this week, are expected to amount to roughly 10% of the online giant’s corporate workforce.

The thousands of corporate pink slips that are going out Tuesday cut across the organization, hitting human resources, cloud computing, advertising and a number of other business units, the people said.

The total number of reductions hasn’t been finalized, one of the people said.

In a note to employees, Amazon Senior Vice President Beth Galetti called the workforce reduction a way to “get even stronger by further reducing bureaucracy, removing layers, and shifting resources to ensure we’re investing in our biggest bets and what matters most to our customers’ current and future needs.”

To help support workers who are affected, Amazon is offering most employees 90 days to look for a new role internally, Galetti said.

Amazon’s job cuts come as large companies in the U.S. are looking at ways to reduce or slow the growth of their head count, including by employing artificial intelligence.

[Arizona_928]

I bet those are good paying jobs as well.


Locally, the big factory did their lay offs and cut a lot of their 6 figure employees.

[Arizona_928]

I feel like these articles aren’t factoring high turn over.


https://www.cnbc.com/2025/10/28/private-sector-created-nearly-15000-jobs-a-week-over-the-past-month-preliminary-adp-data-shows.html

[rfuerst911sc]

UPS has eliminated 48k jobs this year . I wonder how bad holiday online shopping will be affected by Amazon and UPS layoffs . I feel bad when any jobs are lost .

UPS announces 48,000 positions terminated in 2025 – WSB-TV Channel 2 - Atlanta https://share.google/UThoeBesh7jDOClsK

[Arizona_928]

^^^ 70% from drivers and warehouse staff. I feel there’s a big shift to independent contractors through the gig economy (apps like roadie).

It seems the only thing keeping the economy propped is the AI industry, however, the AI/cloud seems to be heavily subsidized and interconnected with its funding.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally Posted by rfuerst911sc

UPS has eliminated 48k jobs this year . I wonder how bad holiday online shopping will be affected by Amazon and UPS layoffs . I feel bad when any jobs are lost .

UPS announces 48,000 positions terminated in 2025 – WSB-TV Channel 2 - Atlanta https://share.google/UThoeBesh7jDOClsK

There was a story on Bloomberg a few weeks ago with the largest box maker in the U.S. Box sales are down something like 35%. I thought it was an interesting perspective that surely ripples through the economy and jobs.

[Zeke]

Tabs day is around the corner. Just ask him.

[jyl]

UPS domestic package volume is down like -12% if I recall. They are cutting down their AMZN delivery biz and outsourcing final mile of their lowest cost service to the USPS. International package volume is down more. Tariffs, etc, so less packages coming to US. Also they are increasing automation in the sorting facilities.

Anyway, there are a lot of big company layoffs. Not much hiring. Net job growth is closing on zero.

Outside of AI, the economy is on the edge of recession.

[berettafan]

Originally Posted by Arizona_928

^^^ 70% from drivers and warehouse staff. I feel there’s a big shift to independent contractors through the gig economy (apps like roadie).

That would be truly bad as it brings in a race to the bottom. Service and pay will fall off a cliff.

[Tobra]

Originally Posted by Shaun @ Tru6

There was a story on Bloomberg a few weeks ago with the largest box maker in the U.S. Box sales are down something like 35%. I thought it was an interesting perspective that surely ripples through the economy and jobs.

Box sales being down is the ripple.

Amazon has a lot of turnover for sure. This is eliminating positions with automation. Dealerships have trouble keeping auto mechanics though

[greglepore]

This is the tip of an iceberg I'm afraid. AI is going to ripple through the white collar middle class, and those laid off aren't going to find openings, cascading a bunch of things-real estate, consumer spending yada. And while there may be a market for skilled blue collar, these guys don't have skills that translate.

[berettafan]

Absolutley.

And don't look to the White House to save your butts. They have dug in firmly with the idea that AI is unavoidable so might as well get ahead of it, you know for the sake of national security. You can get incredible insight into exactly what Trump is being told by listening to his AI/Crypto czar on the All In podcast.

And what was the attitude on Trump's AI czar's podcast about the problems AI will bring? Oh we can have the giant corps that will be using insane amounts of electricity and thus driving the cost up to unaffordable levels for the local population maybe toss a few bucks to the poors.

What is the correct view for this? The data centers should be paying for ALL electricity used on their entire grid. Not just what is used by them to generate AI porn for basement dwellers but ALL electricity meaning that used by homes, stores, farms...ALL OF IT.

But that is not even on the table.

[Arizona_928]

Even the gig economy has been targeted for replacement (waymo).

AI is draconian. There’s only so many jobs that can be created once whole industries are gone. Then comes the argument for basic income.

[jyl]

Plus lots more not deemed newsworthy.

Companies are cutting heads to maintain margins, consistent with pressure on margins and/or caution in the growth outlook.

[Arizona_928]

I have a friend that lost his 6 figure job.

[The Synergizer]

Losing a job is part of life unfortunately.

Many end up in a better situation in their future, although it may require re-evaluating life choices, career choices, and education.

[berettafan]

This, sadly, is different. At least i believe so.

[Ngrich99]

I had my job eliminated after working all the levels for 22.5 years and being a manager of one of 64 auto auctions the company owns. Privately held and own kbb , auto trader and so many other entities. Realignment of regions and our location with the new regional vice presidents click. He saw opportunity to eliminate $ and get his bonus. People don’t matter.
Enjoying my freedom though.

[pwd72s]

Kinda ties into this thread...
https://forums.pelicanparts.com/off-topic-discussions/1185562-whihc-construction-trade-best-small-biz.html

With AI already doing it's thing, which is more valuable? An MBA, or a good tech school training?

[jyl]

I remember reading a quote from, I think, the CEO of Waste Management, which is an $80BN market cap company. Something like "I can hire a MBA from a mid-level school for $60K and I can get them all day long".

I may be misremembering the $ number and this was a few years ago. But generally I think a MBA from a so-so school is probably not that valuable. Meanwhile, the tuition alone for a MBA from my alma mater (Haas Berkeley) is now $250K.

My daughter was briefly interested in getting a MBA; I told her if she was really serious and got into a top ten school we'd make it happen, but otherwise I'd help her start a little business and she'd get a paid-for education, and then she could revisit the MBA idea.