Amazon slashes 16,000 jobs and fuels fears of a white-collar jobs apocalypse

Amazon has told staff it plans to cut around 16,000 corporate jobs worldwide as it pushes ahead with efforts to streamline the business and reduce bureaucracy.

The move marks the second major round of layoffs in just three months at the Seattle-based company after the loss of roughly 14,000 roles in October.

The latest cuts are understood to fall mainly in the US, though some UK jobs will also be affected. Amazon declined to say how many British workers are at risk.

Beth Galetti, Amazon’s senior vice president of people experience and technology, said in a blog post to staff that the company had been ‘reducing layers, increasing ownership, and removing bureaucracy’.

But he insisted this was not the start of regular, rolling job cuts. ‘Some of you might ask if this is the beginning of a new rhythm – where we announce broad reductions every few months,’ she wrote. ‘That’s not our plan.’

US-based employees will be given 90 days to apply for other internal roles. Those who do not secure a new position will be offered severance pay, health insurance benefits and outplacement support, according to the company.

The cuts come as Amazon ramps up its use of artificial intelligence and robots, and cuts a workforce that ballooned during the pandemic.

CEO Andy Jassy has repeatedly warned that AI will shrink the company’s headcount over time, after he took the helm from founder Jeff Bezos in 2021.

The layoffs announced Wednesday are Amazon’s biggest since 2023, when the company cut 27,000 jobs.

Amazon employed around 1.57 million people globally at the end of September, including roughly 350,000 corporate staff, with the rest working mainly in warehouses.

The job losses also arrive alongside a pullback from physical retail. Earlier this week, Amazon confirmed it would close its remaining Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go stores in the US, shifting its focus to Whole Foods.

The job cuts have not arrived with a company on shaky financial ground.

In its most recent quarter, Amazon’s profits jumped nearly 40 percent to about $21 billion and revenue soared to more than $180 billion.

Late last year after layoffs, Jassy said job cuts weren´t driven by company finances or AI.

‘It´s culture,’ he said in October. ‘And if you grow as fast as we did for several years, the size of businesses, the number of people, the number of locations, the types of businesses you´re in, you end up with a lot more people than what you had before, and you end up with a lot more layers.’

The news adds to growing anxiety about the US job market, particularly among white-collar roles.

Revised government data this month showed the economy lost 173,000 jobs in October – the worst monthly performance since the pandemic – while December added just 50,000 positions.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the US added only about 584,000 jobs in 2025, making it the weakest year for employment growth outside a recession since 2003 — a grim backdrop as corporate America signals that automation, tariffs and profit pressures are far from done.

This week, UPS said it would cut up to 30,000 operational roles through attrition and buyouts, while Pinterest revealed plans to lay off under 15 percent of its workforce as it pivots more spending toward AI.

Companies like Target, Procter & Gamble, and Walmart also slashed thousands of mid-level corporate jin 2025.