Amazon Starts Latest Job Cuts Focusing on Retail and HR

Amazon is reportedly beginning its latest round of job cuts Wednesday (Jan. 18).

These layoffs are primarily focused on the firm’s retail and human resources organizations and are part of its largest-ever workforce reduction that was announced earlier this month, Bloomberg reported Wednesday.

In total, the cuts will impact 1% of Amazon’s total workforce and 6% of its corporate employees, according to the report.

The planned workforce reductions were announced Jan. 4 by Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, who said in a message to employees that was also posted online that the jobs cuts that had been underway for months would ultimately total more than 18,000.

The Bloomberg report comes on the same day that the Census Bureau released weak retail sales data.

The Census Bureau report showed that U.S. retail sales fell for a second month in December — with a 1.1% decline from the previous month — and that non-store retail, or eCommerce, was also down by 1.1%.

“The continued uncertainty around the macroeconomic environment has proven to be more difficult for retailers to weather as many consumers are more hesitant to spend in comparison to 2021 holiday spending,” Mike Rittler, head of Retail Card Services at TD Bank, told PYMNTS.

Jassy said in his Jan. 4 post announcing the scope of Amazon’s layoffs that the company has weathered challenging economic conditions in the past and will continue to do so.

“These changes will help us pursue our long-term opportunities with a stronger cost structure; however, I’m also optimistic that we’ll be inventive, resourceful and scrappy in this time when we’re not hiring expansively and eliminating some roles,” the Amazon CEO said in the post.

Jassy had said in November that Amazon’s job cuts that had already been announced at that time would continue to grow and extend into 2023 as company leaders continued their annual operating planning review.

At that point, Amazon had announced reductions in its Devices and Books businesses as well as a voluntary reduction offer in its People, Experience and Technology (PXT) organization. He said then that there would be more cuts made in the company’s PXT and Stores teams.