Microsoft lays off 10,000, Amazon lays off 18,000
Microsoft has announced that it will lay off 10,000 employees this year. The leading provider of software and services in the field of information technology employs about 221,000 workers worldwide. The cuts will affect nearly 5% of people, BNR reports.
The downturn in the tech industry is leading to job cuts across the sector, including at other major firms such as Amazon and Meta, the parent company of the social network Facebook.
Microsoft announced the layoffs the day Amazon also announced it was renewing a months-long wave of layoffs that will leave 18,000 employees out of a job. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy says the main reason is the “uncertain economy”
Amazon employees are already receiving layoff notices, the Seattle Times writes. The company is cutting 2,300 jobs in Seattle and Bellevue, according to the Washington State Department of Employment.
The employees will be laid off on March 19, after a 60-day transition period during which Amazon will continue to pay them wages but not expect them to work. The cuts are likely to most seriously affect the human resources and retail departments, reports CNBC, quoted by BTA.
Employees in the US, Canada and Costa Rica will be notified first that they are being laid off. Those employed at Amazon divisions in other regions will be informed later that they are being laid off. For example, China will receive its notices after the Lunar New Year, which falls on Sunday (Jan. 22), notes CNN. In India, the corporation is laying off up to 1,000 of its employees, The Times of India reported.
The layoffs will cover up to 6 percent of the corporation’s 350,000 employees globally, Bloomberg notes.
These are the biggest cuts Amazon has made since its inception. The company joins other tech giants, such as Microsoft, Twitter and Meta, which are laying off employees as the global economy slows, experts say.
Experts say persistent recession fears, rising interest rates and a return to pre-pandemic lifestyles are putting serious pressure on the industry.
Over the past year, major tech companies have cut hundreds, thousands of jobs.
