Amazon pauses corporate hiring, citing 'unusual macro-economic environment'

• Amazon announced it would pause new corporate hires.
• The company cited an "unusual macro-economic environment" as a reason for the freeze.

Amazon announced it would pause new corporate hires.

In a message to staffers late Wednesday that was made public on Thursday, Beth Galetti, Amazon's senior vice president of people experience, cited an "unusual macro-economic environment" as a reason for the decision, saying the company "wants to balance our hiring and investments with being thoughtful about this economy."

Galetti told employees the company expects to keep the hiring freeze in place "for the next few months."

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The public memo said that Amazon still intends to hire a "meaningful" number of employees in 2023, highlighting business segments like Prime Video, Alexa, and grocery.

The e-commerce giant had alluded to plans to freeze hiring in the past few weeks.

On a conference call last week, CFO Brian Olsavsky told shareholders and reporters that Amazon is "looking for areas where we can save money," saying staffing was one area of focus.

The comments came amid a slowdown for Amazon; the company projects it will have its slowest-ever fourth-quarter growth.

Amazon had already frozen hiring in its retail division in early October, according to internal documents reviewed by The New York Times.

The company is not alone in rethinking its hiring practices amid a slowing economy: Meta, Alphabet, and Netflix all announced hiring freezes this year.