WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — E-commerce giant Amazon announced this week they are planning to lay off thousands of employees.
The Seattle-based company also said more job cuts are expected early next year.
Twitter and Meta, Facebook's parent group, are also laying off employees.
So, how could this news impact jobs in Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast?
Amazon has increased its footprint in our area for years.
"[Amazon is] very convenient," shopper Kathy DiPietro said. "I love it for returns too."
The pandemic was a catalyst for growth at Amazon — with high demand for innovation and delivery at your doorstep.
Citing the challenging economy, CEO Andy Jassy just announced major job cuts in its devices and books departments. Also, more roles are expected to be eliminated in the new year, citing the challenging economy.
"We have been in a rising interest rate environment and that has slowed growth for the broader economy but particularly for some of the previous red-hot aspects of the economy and technology has been at the top of that list," Mark Hamrick, a senior economist at Bankrate.com, said.
Hamrick said the loss of these technology jobs could be felt all over the country. In Palm Beach County, CareerSource has often helped place people at jobs at local Amazon centers.
"They have quite a big presence in the county," CareerSource Palm Beach County Vice President Tom Veenstra said.
In the last 12 years, Amazon has invested $18 billion across the state and created more than 59,000 jobs, building distribution centers across Florida.
As of this year, expansion locally doesn't seem to be slowing down.
In 2022, Amazon created hundreds of jobs at its first fulfillment center in St. Lucie County.
Local online shoppers said it's disappointing to hear about the layoffs and expect that delivery operations won't be impacted in the future.
"Me and my girlfriend work full-time jobs and work late hours and try to get in gym time and cooking time, so it makes it really easy to have something show up on your doorstep," Amazon shopper Matt Provence said.
