Online retail giant Amazon – said to be America’s second-largest employer – is reportedly planning a major expansion of its warehouse automation that could reduce the number of US hires by more than 600,000 over the next eight years.
According to internal documents obtained by The New York Times, the company’s robotics division aims to automate roughly 75 percent of operations by around 2033, and expects to avoid about 160,000 new roles by 2027.
The leaked materials also highlight cost-savings of around $12.6 billion from 2025-2027, or about 30 cents saved per item shipped.
Separate reporting by Business Insider presents a related internal memo in which Amazon describes its next-gen robots – including a new tactile arm called “Vulcan” – as “critical to flattening Amazon’s hiring curve over the next ten years.”
Amazon has pushed back publicly. A spokesperson clarified the documents reflect one team’s view and do not represent the company’s overall hiring strategy, noting that Amazon is still actively recruiting and plans seasonal hiring.
While Amazon insists the automation will free workers from repetitive tasks and create new roles (for example, robot maintenance, reliability engineers), analysts warn that if Amazon achieves this scale it could shift from being a net job creator to a net job reducer – particularly in fulfilment centres.
