Layoffs Continue at Amazon, Amex, Barclays and Dropbox While Announced U.S. Job Cuts Run 39% Below Last Year

The headlines say layoffs. The data says something narrower.

Companies across tech, finance and retail have kept announcing cuts through 2026. Yet U.S. employers announced more than 573,000 job cuts in the first nine months of the year, according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. That is down 39% from the same period in 2025. Technology accounted for 29% of the total, followed by transportation, healthcare, consumer products and services.

Economists describe the labor market as "low-fire, low-hire." Bureau of Labor Statistics data show layoffs and discharges below pre-pandemic levels. Weekly jobless claims have been near a 57-year low.

Amazon: Repeated rounds

Amazon announced in January that it would eliminate about 16,000 corporate roles worldwide. Beth Galetti, the company's senior vice president of people experience and technology, described the move in a memo as part of an effort to cut back on bureaucracy.

That followed 14,000 cuts in October 2025. In May, the Selling Partner Services team lost what an Amazon spokesperson called "a relatively small number of roles."

October brought two more rounds. Earlier in the month, Amazon cut fewer than 1,000 jobs in its core retail business across the U.S., India and the UK. On Oct. 28 it eliminated up to 250 roles in Devices & Services, mostly in software development. The company said it needed to operate more efficiently and align staffing with its product roadmap.

Finance: Amex and Barclays

American Express disclosed the cuts on its third-quarter earnings call on Oct. 23. CEO Stephen Squeri said the company will eliminate about 5% of its workforce. It took a $336 million restructuring charge.

Amex employed roughly 77,000 people at the end of 2025. That puts the cuts at somewhere between 3,000 and 4,000 jobs.

"We've got good momentum, but to accelerate innovation and win over the next few years, we needed to become a more agile and efficient organization," Squeri told analysts. He separately said Amex is using AI to increase productivity and automate processes.

The company was not in distress. It reported adjusted earnings of $4.68 per share against a $4.48 estimate. Revenue of $20.06 billion came in slightly under the $20.13 billion consensus. It also raised full-year 2026 profit guidance to $17.60 to $17.90 per share.

Barclays said it plans to cut 5,000 jobs, also about 5% of its workforce. Group finance director Anna Cross told analysts that around 60% of the actions relate to support functions, "including fewer developers as AI makes our people more productive."

Tech and the AI argument

Dropbox said on Oct. 28 that it will eliminate about 200 positions, roughly 9% of its global workforce. The cuts span engineering, product, design and administrative teams. The company said it will concentrate resources on its highest-priority products, customer workflows and growth initiatives. Technology chief Ali Dasdan is also set to depart.

Angi said in January it would cut about 350 jobs "to reduce operating expenses and optimize the organizational structure in support of long-term growth." The company added the cuts came "in light of AI-driven efficiency improvements." A Jan. 7 SEC filing put annual savings at $70 million to $80 million.

Block, Coinbase and Standard Chartered have also named AI as a reason for their cuts. A World Economic Forum survey last year found 41% of companies worldwide expect to shrink their workforces over the next five years because of AI. The same survey found jobs in big data, fintech and AI are expected to double by 2030.

Not every company ties its cuts to AI. Dropbox, Amex and Amazon's Devices unit each framed theirs around efficiency, focus or agility. Those are the companies' stated reasons, and they do not independently verify that AI is the driver in any given case.

Smaller and unconfirmed moves

In November, a tracker of WARN notices and confirmed layoffs counted 62 roles cut at ServiceNow on Nov. 4, with 44 WARN notices filed with state labor departments that week. The tracker also lists a 277-role cut at Microsoft on Sep. 22. WARN Tracker's tally shows more than 100 companies planning cuts in 2026, though part of that total traces back to earlier announcements.

Innodata was reported on Oct. 27 to have laid off nearly 550 employees in India, with reductions also reported in the Philippines. The precise number and the company's rationale require confirmation.

Internal memos from eBay and Qualcomm, reviewed by Reuters, indicate both plan to trim headcount. The Epoch Times said it reached out to both companies for confirmation.

What the numbers leave open

The cuts are real, and for the workers affected, the aggregate decline in announced layoffs is no comfort. But a year-over-year drop of 39% in announced cuts does not match the picture of a broad wave.

Output has also outrun hiring. Strong consumer spending powered 4.3% annual growth in the July-September 2025 quarter, the best in two years. Hiring slowed in December even so. That pattern suggests companies are getting more out of fewer people, which is what Squeri, Cross and Galetti are describing in their own words.

What comes next is partly a matter of confirmation. eBay and Qualcomm have yet to publicly acknowledge the plans described in the memos.