That “support” reaction on LinkedIn is about to get its money’s worth. Amazon announced 14,000 corporate job cuts yesterday, with a total of 30,000 layoffs (~10% of its white-collar workforce) expected in the near future. UPS also said yesterday during its Q3 earnings call that it cut 48,000 positions this year already, with 14,000 of those coming from management roles.

The huge headcount reductions follow a startling trend of mass layoffs in corporate offices around the US in recent weeks, including:

• Ed tech company Chegg said it’s laying off 45% of its workforce, or 388 employees. Chegg blamed weak search traffic, which it in turn blamed on AI.
• Paramount said it would lay off 1,000 employees starting today, with more expected following the merger of Paramount Global and Skydance Media in August.
• Target started its biggest round of layoffs in 10 years yesterday, which will cut 1,000 workers and 800 open positions—equivalent to 8% of the retailer’s workforce.
• PwC cut its headcount by 5,600 in the last year leading up to June 30. The accounting firm originally promised in 2021 to increase hiring by adding 100,000 employees by mid-2026.

Reasons companies are giving for slashing headcount include cutting costs, making workflows more nimble, or, in Amazon’s case, reducing bureaucracy. But some of the biggest cuts hint at executives hoping to free up funds for future AI spending.

Some are being very open about it. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy wants to turn the company into a lean, AI-equipped machine that operates like the “world’s largest startup.” In July, Amazon reported that most of its $31.4 billion in Q2 capital expenditures were going to AI and cloud-computing investments, and that the trend would likely continue in future quarters.

Big picture: Despite all these layoffs, the private sector still added 14,250 jobs per week over the last month, according to early data from ADP.—MM