Insider Brief
- Amazon’s robotics group sees automation as a path to avoid hiring up to ~600,000 additional warehouse workers by 2033, with robots filling most new roles by 2027, per reporting from The New York Times and Benzinga.
- Internal figures indicate ~160,000 hires could be averted near term, as robotics-centric sites like Shreveport, LA, use 25%–50% fewer workers, with ~40 similar facilities planned by 2027 toward a 75% automation goal.
- Amazon says the documents reflect one team’s view and that it will keep investing in higher-skill roles and upskilling, while economists (e.g., MIT’s Daron Acemoglu) warn profitable automation at Amazon could ripple across other employers.
The robotics group at Amazon see robots as a way to avoid having to add 600,000 employees in the next 8 years, Benzinga noted, citing reporting from the New York Times. Internal documents viewed by The New York Times suggest the e-commerce giant is preparing for a future in which robots—not people—fill most new warehouse roles by 2027.
According to the Benzinga report, which included a statement from Amazon not included in the NY Times piece, Amazon may forgo hiring roughly 160,000 human workers it would otherwise need to sustain its projected growth, instead deploying advanced robotics to perform their tasks. By 2033, as Amazon aims to double the volume of products it sells, automation could eliminate the need for as many as 600,000 additional hires. The shift could save the company an estimated $0.30 per item delivered, significantly reducing labor costs and boosting margins.
Amazon’s warehouses are already changing. Newer facilities, such as one in Shreveport, Louisiana, were designed with robotics in mi nd and require 25% to 50% fewer workers than older sites. The company reportedly plans to replicate that design across 40 more facilities by 2027, with a long-term goal of automating 75% of its operations.
Amazon, the second-largest U.S. employer with a workforce of 1.2 million, insists it is not abandoning human workers. “The materials appear to reflect the perspective of just one team and don’t represent our overall hiring strategy,” spokesperson Kelly Nantel told The New York Times in statements viewed by Benzinga. The company says efficiency gains often lead to reinvestment in other areas and that it continues to expand job opportunities through higher-paying technical roles and programs like its Robotics Apprenticeship initiative.
Still, economists warn the transition could ripple far beyond Amazon. Massachusetts Institute of Technology economist and 2024 Nobel Prize winner Daron Acemoglu said the move could trigger a wave of automation across industries. “Once they work out how to do this profitably, it will spread to others, too,” he said, warning that one of America’s largest employers could soon become a net job reducer rather than a job creator.
