Amazon begins its largest layoffs in the United States (US), Canada and Costa Rica as its plan to cut jobs of 18,000 employees. According to reports, the company is terminating 2,300 employees in Seattle and Bellevue.
The Amazon layoffs are likely to affect the retail and human resources division of the company. Last year, the layoffs initially impacted the company's devices and services group, one of which builds Alexa digital assistant and Eco smart speakers.
Layoffs that began last year are accelerating across the technology world.
In November, the most recent month for which data is available, the sector announced 52,771 cuts, for a total of 80,978 over the course of the year, according to consulting firm Challenger, Gray and Christman Inc, reported Bloomberg.
During the pandemic, tech giants went on a hiring spree when remote working became popular.
The US labour law requires companies planning a mass layoff to inform employees 60 days before the closure.
Earlier, Chief Executive Andy Jassy said earlier this month that the cuts, about 6 per cent of the company's roughly 3,00,000 corporate employees, would mostly impact the e-commerce and human resource divisions.
Apart from Amazon, Meta Platforms, Intel Corp, Qualcomm Inc and Salesforce Inc are trimming their workforce.
Microsoft has become the latest tech firm to cut jobs. As per reports, the company plans to lay off five per cent of its workforce, especially in the human resources and engineering divisions. As many as 11,000 employees, which is five per cent of its workforce are set to be fired.
