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San Francisco (AFP) – Amazon confirmed Thursday that it has started laying off employees to face the economic crisis, following rumors have been going on for days regarding a social plan for the e-commerce giant.
“The economy remains a complex situation, and we’ve hired employees quickly in recent years,” Andy Jassy, CEO of the US group, said in an internal note posted on Amazon.
A number of US media outlets stated that the platform, in its various branches, will lay off regarding ten thousand employees.
Andy Jassy did not confirm this number but said the process began on Wednesday and will continue early next year.
The layoff procedures include, in the first stage, the staff working in the field of the brand’s electronic devices, such as the “Kindle” reading devices. As for the existing shops, they will not be affected by the layoffs.
“There will be more job cuts as managers advance their adjustments,” the Amazon CEO said, explaining that “employees and relevant organizations will be informed of these decisions in early 2023.”
“I’ve been in this position for regarding a year and a half and this is without a doubt the most difficult decision we’ve made during this time,” Jassy said. He stressed that he realizes that it is not just regarding “jobs” but “people who have passions, aspirations and responsibilities and whose lives will be affected.”
The size of the cut – ten thousand employees – is just under one percent of the current wage block for the group, which employed 1.54 million people worldwide at the end of September, excluding seasonal workers hired during periods of increased activity, particularly in End of the year celebrations.
And the company announced two weeks ago a freeze on hiring in its offices. Its workforce has actually shrunk since the beginning of the year when it had 1.62 million people working full or part time.
Amazon hired a large number of workers during the pandemic to meet the explosion in demand. The number of global workers doubled between the beginning of 2020 and the beginning of 2022.
But the US retail giant saw its net profit decline by 9 percent year on year in the third quarter of this year.
For the current quarter, the group expects a slight growth by its standards during the year-end celebration period of between 2 and 8 percent over one year.
A number of technology companies that have employed significant hiring during the pandemic have recently announced social plans, including Meta (Facebook), Instagram, Twitter and Stripe.
© 2022 AFP
