Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced several hundred job cuts across sales, marketing, and tech.
The staff impacted also includes hundreds from the physical stores' technology team, following the recent news that the e-commerce giant will be removing its ‘Just Walk Out’ self-checkout system from US stores.
The latest cuts continue the trend throughout the tech sector, which has seen over 57,000 workers laid off across 229 firms in 2024 so far.
Amazon itself has been responsible for more than 27,000 layoffs in 2022 and 2023, with over-hiring during the pandemic and a focus on AI and automation considered to be the key factors.
In explaining why AWS had decided to make the staff cuts, a spokesperson stated: "We've identified a few targeted areas of the organization we need to streamline.
These decisions are difficult but necessary as we continue to invest, hire, and optimize resources to deliver innovation for our customers.
Despite the news, the company also confirmed that "it will continue to hire and grow, especially in core areas of our business."
The Information – the news site that first broke the news – believes that the cuts are part of Sales Chief Matt Garman’s plans for a broader reorganization.
While AWS has recovered somewhat from last year’s slow growth, the company is still under threat of losing its position as the biggest cloud provider in the world, with Microsoft’s partnership with OpenAI making it the early front-runner in the GenAI race.
As tech firms continue to look to AI as the next big cash cow, what does the future hold for their employees?
Does More AI = Less Staff?
Despite companies that deploy automation and AI tools constantly reassuring their staff and the public that these solutions are there to assist employees, not replace them, lay offs continue to be commonplace.
To draw a soccer analogy, it’s like when a struggling manager gets the public backing of the board – almost a guarantee that they’ll be fired within the month.