Amazon Freezes Hiring For All Corporate Personnel
Amazon is reportedly freezing all hiring in its corporate sector due to the business being in "an uncertain place."
It doesn’t bode well when the likes of Amazon announces that it has decided to freeze all hiring due to the company being in “an uncertain place.” Following an earlier movie in October to freeze hiring in its retail sector, Amazon said that that will now extend to its corporate division, too. At present, the company has not been able to provide a definitive answer as to how long these freezes will last.
According to Axios, Amazon’s best estimate is that the current hiring freezes will last for “the next few months.” This is odd, especially considering that this time of year is usually characterized by an enormous amount of seasonal hiring. Although, Amazon did admit that being that growth has been so strong in the last few years they bolstered and ballooned their workforce during that time.
In just one year Amazon’s workforce expanded by 5%. That is a big number for a company that employs well over one million people. However, now, as the economy is slowing due to rampant inflation and other mitigating factors, Amazon perhaps realized that they were too quick to add personnel.
Interestingly, Amazon’s move to freeze hiring comes as Amazon Web Services, one of the company’s biggest cash cows, is experiencing a slowdown in growth. Despite the current freezes, Amazon did allude to the possibility of adding more staff if they notice attrition occurring in some areas. This suggests that the company is still willing to add employees should an imminent need arise.
Moreover, it isn’t just Amazon that is opting to freeze hiring. It’s a trend that is clearly visible across the entire tech sector. And even beyond that. For instance, Apple is reportedly taking a similar approach and halting hiring in all except a few departments. Meta, Google, and Microsoft have all either stopped hiring or even started to lay off personnel.
Then of course there is what’s happening over at Twitter right now following Elon Musk’s takeover. After purchasing the social media giant Musk has wasted no time. When the dust settles the billionaire will have reportedly slashed Twitter’s staff by 5,000. Amazon’s hiring freeze seems like a blessing compared to the course of action that Elon Musk is taking.
That said, what Musk is doing is for reasons other than economical ones. Still, tech companies are often a good gauge of where the economy is headed. And with Amazon and virtually every other key player either freezing hiring or laying off workers, it certainly stands to reason that the economy is not exactly on an ideal track right now.
Honestly, experts have been predicting an economic downturn for months. It seems like Amazon, and other huge corporate entities like it, are merely preparing for the worst and waiting for the inevitable ball to drop. One glimmer of hope does exist, however, a total of 261,000 jobs were added in the month of October which was better than predicted but at the same time represents the slowest job growth since December 2020. Do with that news what you will.
