Amazon is set to cut about 121 jobs in Washington state starting Oct. 1, adding to a broader wave of workforce reductions at the company as it continues to expand its use of artificial intelligence and robotics.
The layoffs will affect employees at Amazon facilities in Seattle, Bellevue and Sumner, according to a WARN notice filed with the Washington Employment Security Department. The notice says 49 employees at a Bellevue facility and 32 workers at a Sumner facility are among those affected. Other employees at Amazon locations in Seattle and Bellevue are also included, while one affected employee works remotely from Washington.
The job cuts are expected to take place between Oct. 1 and Oct. 27. The largest group, 66 employees, is scheduled to be laid off on Oct. 20, according to the filing. Amazon said the layoffs are expected to be permanent.
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Employees who secure an internal transfer before their separation date will not be affected by the layoffs.
The latest cuts have also sparked renewed debate online about Amazon’s hiring practices, its use of foreign workers and the company’s growing reliance on automation.
An X post discussing the Washington layoffs claimed that Amazon is cutting software engineering and other professional roles while continuing to file large numbers of H-1B labor condition applications. The post cited 20,007 H-1B labor condition applications filed across Amazon entities and claimed that the median wage listed was $142,800.
The post also alleged that many of those applications are for computer science-related positions, raising questions about the contrast between Amazon’s hiring of foreign workers and its layoffs of technology employees in the U.S.
Those claims, however, are separate from the Washington WARN filing, which does not provide information about the immigration status of the affected workers or connect the layoffs to H-1B hiring.
READ: After 16,000 layoffs, Amazon may cut 14,000 more jobs in second phase (March 12, 2026)
The X post also pointed to Amazon’s growing investment in robotics. It claimed that more than 1 million robots are already operating across the company’s warehouses and cited CEO Andy Jassy’s goal of having robots perform 80% of fulfillment center tasks by 2035.
Amazon has been increasing automation across its fulfillment network as it looks to improve efficiency and reduce the amount of manual work involved in warehouse operations. The combination of layoffs, continued technology hiring and automation has fueled concerns about what the company’s workforce could look like in the coming years.
For workers, the latest Washington cuts highlight a changing job market inside one of the world’s largest technology and e-commerce companies. Entry-level roles, senior positions and warehouse jobs are increasingly being affected by a mix of restructuring, automation and shifting business priorities.