Amazon’s latest round of job cuts has affected nearly 14,000 corporate employees, as reported by Reuters. These layoffs have set off a new debate about foreign worker visas and corporate hiring priorities.
The layoffs have touched every corner of the company, including managers, applied scientists, software engineers, HR teams, recruiters and customer service staff.
In Washington state alone, more than 2,300 corporate jobs were eliminated, many of them in software and technology roles.
Divisions such as shipping, delivery support, visual search and AR, brand marketing, operations and executive initiatives were all impacted. Amid this, a post on Team Blind is making a comparison between Amazon layoffs and H-1B abuse.
A user on the platform argued that Amazon is using layoffs to reshuffle its workforce in favour of cheaper visa workers.
The poster wrote, “Amazon claims they trimmed the fat but they basically used the H1B and dumped thousands of people while pretending it’s some culture refresh.”
They added, “Amazon keeps saying it’s not about visas, but you don’t hire hundreds of new H-1Bs in October and then lay off the same roles in November by coincidence. Corporations are swapping expensive American labour for cheaper imported labor while telling everyone to be grateful for day one culture.”
‘H-1B visa isn’t as abused as people are making it out to be’
Netizens posted on TeamBlind their opinion. A user noted, “H-1B visa isn’t as abused as people are making it out to be. Y’all need to chill. Some of you need to accept that you are just mediocre.”
“America needs talented engineers and H-1Bs provide many. As someone who has done a lot of hiring for Amazon over the past 5 years (60+ interviews), I can tell you there are several times more qualified applications coming from H-1B holders than US citizens. That’s just the facts, dude. The US simply does not produce as many qualified applicants,” added another.
“Amazon layoff is due to they need money for AI. It’s real simple,” added a user.
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