One chart shows how Amazon's layoffs are a drop in the bucket after its pandemic-era hiring spree

Amazon has increased its workforce a lot in recent years.Smith Collection/Gado/Getty ImagesAmazon is laying off about 14,000 corporate workers.That's less than a percent of its total number of employees as of the end of 2024.An economist said companies like Amazon are likely correcting for pandemic-era overhiring.Amazon is laying off thousands of employees, but there are still plenty of people working there. The 14,000 corporate workers being let go are about 0.9% of its roughly 1.6 million employees as of the end of last year. The Big Tech company expanded to over a million full-time and part-time employees in 2020, climbing to 1.6 million a year later when there was a lot of turnover in the overall US workforce as the economy reopened after the pandemic-induced recession.Amazon's workforce has roughly tripled between 2017 and 2024.Beth Galetti, senior vice president of people experience and technology at Amazon, said in a message to workers on Tuesday that the new cuts "are a continuation of this work 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."Amazon is just one large company that's laying off workers. UPS said in its third-quarter earnings that it has cut thousands of roles in the first nine months of the year.Ernie Tedeschi, a nonresident senior fellow at The Budget Lab at Yale, told Business Insider that AI is a plausible factor in the current spate of layoffs. However, he added that the elevated hiring a few years ago is likely the larger reason."I see this as mainly a correction to pandemic-era dynamics rather than some new thing like AI that's striking these companies," Tedeschi said.During the Great Resignation and the hot labor market following the big post-COVID reopening, workers felt empowered to move around a lot. That also meant companies opening up roles and seeking new hires.Tedeschi said companies were able to maintain their beefed-up workforce for a while, but can't continue to do so in a more uncertain period."The other shoe is dropping, and they have to cost optimize and let some of those people go," Tedeschi said.Claudia Sahm, the chief economist for New Century Advisors, told Business Insider that the US is in a low-hire, low-fire job market, following a high-hire market with high quits just a few years ago."We've just had some pretty dramatic changes in the labor market in recent years," Sahm said.Some of the laid-off Amazon workers could end up finding a new role at the company. Galetti said in the Tuesday message that the company is "offering most employees 90 days to look for a new role internally."Read the original article on Business Insider

Comments

Business News

Stocks mixed ahead of Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision

Evening Standard

Comments

Similar News

U.S. Banks Are Required To Compete With One Arm Tied Behind The Back

One-off £150 energy bills discount - who is eligible and how does it work?

The lump sum conundrum: How one pension mistake has ruined our retirements

How one Florida county is saving its public schools

A Scottish tea mystery: green shoots – episode one – podcast

I was a Boots make up artist and one £13 mascara gives incredible volume

The lump sum conundrum: How one pension mistake has ruined our retirements

The Guardian view on state failure: Britain’s crisis is not just one of investment, but also of upkeep | Editorial

How Rachel Reeves MUST end her wicked games over raiding your pension: Thousands are cashing in their lump sum in a blind panic and don't realise the cost. There's only ONE thing to do, says JEFF PRESTRIDGE

‘Drinking was big!’ Pub landlords – one gen Z, one 66 – discuss how they stay open in an age of sobriety

Netflix’s ‘One Piece’ Season 2 Release Date Is Here, Plus A Cast List

We named our youngest Disney. Our other 6 kids have unusual ones, too.

Starmer hopes £8bn Typhoon jet deal with Turkey is ‘not a one-off’

I unboxed TikTok’s number one beauty brand's advent calendar worth over £700

I tracked my moods every day for almost 5 years. One habit skyrocketed my happiness.

I thought I was prepared for my husband's military deployment. Then I realized I had no one to support me.

One in three of today's workers faces poverty trap in retirement

One Reason Arsenal Might Fire Mikel Arteta

Gen Z must stop buying Starbucks, take subway instead of Uber to one day afford a house: Corcoran Group CEO

Cadbury axes 'one of the best' chocolates from its Heroes boxes this Christmas

Business News

Stocks mixed ahead of Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision

Waitrose issues emergency recall of popular product containing unlawful levels of cancer-causing substance

Stocks mixed ahead of Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision

Reform UK’s Lee Anderson says he ‘gamed’ benefits system in former job

Reform UK’s Lee Anderson says he ‘gamed’ benefits system in former job

Why are banks criticising the car finance redress scheme and what happens next?

Compensation scheme opens for victims of Post Office Capture IT scandal

Starmer declines to rule out manifesto-busting tax rises in Budget

Compensation scheme opens for victims of Post Office Capture IT scandal

Children in long-term workless households highest for nearly a decade

Why are banks criticising the car finance redress scheme and what happens next?

The Big Changes To ACA Premiums At The Heart Of The Government Shutdown

Amazon And Target Job Cuts Reveal How AI Is Reshaping The Retail Workforce

Giannis Antetokounmpo Dismisses Trade Rumors: ‘We Beat The Knicks....[That] Doesn’t Really Matter’

How Businesses Can Prepare For Human-AI Work In The Intelligence Age

5 Takeaways From Milwaukee Bucks' Double-Digit Comeback Against Knicks

Trump’s Pakistan Pivot And The Future Of U.S.–India Partnership

Amazon fires staffers via early-morning text messages during round of 14K job cuts: report

Nvidia becomes first $5T company powered by AI frenzy: Here’s how much CEO Jensen Huang is worth

Bari Weiss blindsides CBS News president after tapping ex-WSJ editor as top deputy: report

Steven Bartlett seeks to build ‘Disney of the creator economy’ after multi-million investment

GSK boosted by cancer and HIV drugs as Emma Walmsley bows out

Reform UK’s Lee Anderson says he ‘gamed’ benefits system in former job

Children in long-term workless households highest for nearly a decade

Santander scraps results and calls for Government action on motor finance

Ofgem should use firms’ windfall profits to fund energy debt relief, say MPs

Ministers urged to speed up support for UK car industry amid rising energy costs

UK retail giant upgrades profits forecast amid cost-of-living concerns

GSK boosted by cancer and HIV drugs as Emma Walmsley bows out

Ofgem should use firms’ windfall profits to fund energy debt relief, say MPs

Reform UK’s Lee Anderson says he ‘gamed’ benefits system in former job

Nvidia Becomes First Company Worth $5 Trillion

Satya Nadella’s Plan To Take On TikTok With Xbox Makes No Sense

Yves On Her Solo Career, Leaving LOONA And New Music

Hit By Costs And Medicaid Cuts, Centene Reports $6.6 Billion Loss

The Weeknd’s Two Early-Career Albums Finally Reach The Charts After A Decade

Why Netflix’s ‘A House Of Dynamite’ Ending Is Extremely Frustrating

Vinícius Júnior Omits Key Real Madrid Figure In Apology Over Clásico Substitution

How Dereck Lively II’s Mindset and Mission Are Powering His Third NBA Season

Week 9 Fantasy Football Stock Report: Risers And Fallers

Judas Priest Charts A Surprise Win With A Decades-Old Album

WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event 41: Best And Worst Booking Options

Under-The-Radar Summer Signing Making A Big Difference For Arsenal

David Gilmour Scores The Second No. 1 Of His Career Outside Of Pink Floyd

The Fall Of El Fasher And Another Wave Of Atrocity Crimes In Darfur

Reform UK’s Lee Anderson says he ‘gamed’ the benefits system

Pound tumbles as markets take fright over Rachel Reeves' Budget woes with UK productivity downgrade

Which Starbucks branches are closing down? Full list revealed including five in London

Pound suffers further falls as UK’s fiscal troubles set to deepen

Mortgage approvals hit nine-month high as borrowing costs ease further

Children in long-term workless households highest for nearly a decade

Bridging and development finance still holding up, despite market uncertainty

Building resilience into the future of international assignments

Smarter meeting spaces built on simplicity, trust, and intelligence

Food service is fuelling a greener future

Developing personal resilience in employees

AI isn’t a magic bullet