As part of its ongoing shift towards physical stores, Amazon has announced job cuts affecting hundreds of staff at its cloud computing business. The self-checkout system called Just Walk Out will be removed from all stores, impacting several hundred roles in sales, marketing, and global services, as well as a few hundred roles in its physical stores technology team.
The cuts were described as difficult but necessary by an AWS spokesperson, who emphasized that the company continues to invest in innovation for its customers. Thousands of jobs are available in core areas of its business.
The job cuts will be felt globally, with a majority of AWS roles based in Seattle. US-based employees affected by the job cuts will receive pay and benefits for at least 60 days, assistance in finding another job, access to transitional health benefits, and eligibility for severance pay. As of the end of last year, Amazon had over 1.5 million full-time and part-time employees, excluding contractors and temporary personnel.
Amazon has been investing heavily in artificial intelligence (AI) through its cloud computing arm AWS. Other tech giants like Microsoft are also investing in their AI capabilities, creating competition in the industry. According to US career consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas, the tech sector saw an increase of 73% in job cuts in 2023 compared to 2022.
