Amazon plans to replace more than 500,000 jobs with robots.

Amazon, the second-largest e-commerce company in the United States, is planning to replace more than 500,000 jobs with robots, marking a new turning point in the company's operational strategy.

Nobel laureate in Economics 2024, Daron Acemoglu, said that if this plan succeeds, Amazon – one of the largest employers in the US – will become a "job destroyer." - Photo: REUTERS

According to the New York Times , over the past two decades, no company has had a greater influence than Amazon in shaping the workplace in America.

On its journey to becoming the second-largest employer in the U.S., Amazon hired hundreds of thousands of warehouse workers, built a massive fleet of contract drivers, and pioneered the use of technology to recruit, monitor, and manage employees.

Now, according to interviews and internal strategic documents obtained by the New York Times , Amazon executives believe the company is on the verge of a new turning point in the workplace: replacing more than half a million jobs with robots.

Currently, Amazon's workforce in the US has more than tripled since 2018, reaching nearly 1.2 million people.

However, the company's automation team predicts that by 2027, Amazon could avoid hiring more than 160,000 additional employees, saving approximately $0.30 per product picked, packaged, and shipped.

Executives reported in 2024 that they expected robotic automation to prevent the company from expanding its US workforce in the coming years, but projected that sales volume would double by 2033.

At centers designed for ultra-fast delivery, operators say Amazon is developing warehouses that require virtually no human intervention, aiming for 75% automation of operations.

The documents also recommend avoiding the terms “automation” or “artificial intelligence,” instead using words like “advanced technology” or “cobot”—meaning robots that assist humans.

Professor Daron Acemoglu (Massachusetts Institute of Technology - MIT), winner of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Economics, believes Amazon is the company with the strongest impetus for promoting automation.

He warned that if this plan succeeds, Amazon could become a "job destroyer" instead of a "job creator" as it once was.

However, Amazon insists that the documents obtained by the press do not fully reflect the company's overall hiring strategy. Spokesperson Kelly Nantel said the company will still hire an additional 250,000 employees for the holiday shopping season.

Udit Madan, the company's global chief operating officer, emphasized: "Efficiency in one part of a business does not reflect the entire impact it has, whether in a specific community or for the country as a whole."

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