Jeff Bezos predicted that the productivity leap driven by artificial intelligence (AI) could make it possible for some workers to support their households by working just ‘three days a week.’ In the same week, Amazon cut fewer than 1,000 additional jobs, after already eliminating about 30,000.
Key points
Bezos: AI productivity gains will lead to ‘labor shortages,’ not mass unemployment
Amazon makes further small workforce cuts in its core retail (Stores) division
About 30,000 corporate (white-collar) jobs cut since October 2025
Bezos: “An era is coming when you can make a living working just three days a week”
Amazon founder and board chair Bezos said in a televised interview that aired Wednesday that AI-driven productivity gains could make it possible for a household to live on a single income. Speaking with host **Bret Baier**, he said, “Some people will think, ‘I can support my family by working just three days a week,’ and actually try to reduce their hours. That’s what productivity improvement in the economy looks like.”
Bezos argued that these changes would not eliminate jobs but instead create a labor shortage, making it difficult to find workers. “As more people no longer need a second job, it will actually become harder to hire people,” he explained.
The interview aired as Amazon was laying off hundreds of employees this week in its Stores division, which operates the company’s flagship e-commerce platform. The cuts coincided with the Prime Big Deal Days sales event.
According to several people familiar with the matter, the latest restructuring is estimated to affect fewer than 1,000 employees across teams in the U.S., India and the U.K., including customer service, selling partner support and retail engineering. Amazon officially said only that it had “made small adjustments in a limited number of roles.”
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“AI will lead to labor shortages” vs. “Why is Amazon cutting jobs?”
In the interview, Baier pointed to the gap between this optimism and actual job cuts. He noted that Amazon has eliminated roughly 30,000 corporate jobs since late last year and pressed Bezos on the issue.
Bezos replied that Amazon was in a “very unusual situation” during the COVID-19 pandemic. As orders surged from consumers staying home during lockdowns, Amazon hired large numbers of workers, leaving the organization unusually bloated, he said.
“Every team put in a tremendous effort to fulfill orders, but in the process, we also significantly expanded our workforce,” he said. He acknowledged public concern that AI would eliminate jobs, but added, “I don’t agree with those who paint a darker scenario.”
Bezos himself has a direct stake in the AI field. He is the co-founder and co-CEO of **Project Prometheus**, an AI startup developing tools engineers need to design and manufacture physical products. He predicts the technology will bring “double-digit productivity gains across the economy” and has also called for a “light hand” on regulation. In his words, “You don’t regulate knives; you regulate murder.”
Amazon has already cut about 30,000 corporate employees in two rounds of major restructuring. It laid off 14,000 people in October 2025 and 16,000 in January this year, marking the largest cuts in the company’s history. That represents about 10% of its corporate workforce, but a relatively small share of its roughly 1.6 million employees worldwide.
Since then, further workforce adjustments, both large and small, have continued, particularly in robotics and artificial general intelligence (AGI)-related organizations.
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