Amazon warehouse jobs may become scarce within the decade as the e-commerce giant has plans to automate its operations.
The company has plans to increase its warehouse automation through the incorporation of more robots. An internal report published by The New York Times confirmed that this could impact over 600,000 jobs.
With additional plans to sell more products through its online marketplace, its implementation of these robots will reduce the need for human workers. According to Bloomberg, the company has approximately 1.56 million full-time and part-time employees globally. Only 350,000 of these people work in its corporate offices. The company currently reigns as the second-largest employer in the United States.
Amazon will shift to a heavier focus on robotic operations over the next few years, leading to fewer hiring opportunities within the company. By 2033, they expect hundreds of thousands of previously human-filled jobs to be replaced by technology. Amazon reportedly saves 30 cents on each item it ships when not using human employees.
Upon the news leaking, an Amazon spokesperson denied that the plan was to reduce the need for human workers.
“Leaked documents often paint an incomplete and misleading picture of our plans, and that’s the case here,” Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel told The New York Post. “In this instance, the materials appear to reflect the perspective of just one team and don’t represent our overall hiring strategy across our various operations business lines – now or moving forward.”
Nantel also emphasized the company’s plan to bring 250,000 employees on during the holiday season. However, the company did not state how many of these opportunities would become permanent.
The looming threat of the reduction in warehouse jobs has already alarmed communities that depend on it. The Times reported that Amazon workers in the U.S. are three times more likely to identify as Black. California also has the most Amazon jobs, with the largest fulfillment center based in Ontario, per Damotech.
The leak also showed Amazon’s plans to mitigate backlash by increasing its initiatives for corporate responsibility. It also introduced terms such as “co-bot,” in lieu of terms like “AI” and “automation,” to suggest the work will aid human workers. A spokesperson also denied the validity of this.
Another concern lies in other major corporations following suit to curb expenses. Amazon has tried to suggest the job curation will come with automation. On the other hand, others view the matter as an inevitable disruptor of the job market.
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