Amazon announced Wednesday it will cut more than 18,000 jobs from its workforce, citing "the uncertain economy" and the fact that the online retail giant had "hired rapidly" during the pandemic.

Amazon on Thursday confirmed to continue layoffs in January 2023. The tech giant announced layoffs of thousands of employees last year in November and is continuing firing while parting ways with over 18,000 of its employees globally.

"Between the reductions we made in November and the ones we're sharing today, we plan to eliminate just over 18,000 roles," said CEO Andy Jassy in a statement to his staff. The company had announced 10,000 layoffs in November.

The job cuts—around 80 per cent higher than earlier estimates—are a part of Amazon’s annual operating planning review process.

The job cuts are nearly 6 per cent of Amazon's 300,000-person corporate workforce and represent a swift turn for a company that recently doubled its base pay ceiling to compete more aggressively for talent.

Amazon’s announcement marks a continuation of slump in jobs offered by global tech companies. Facebook-parent Meta, Google, Microsoft, Salesforce, Stripe, and Twitter announced a big reduction in their headcounts last year.

Amazon India said last year it will shut down its distribution, food delivery and edtech divisions by end of 2023, citing the same review process.

Amazon will be informing the impacted employees through mail from January 18. While the layoffs will be carried out across departments, it will majorly impact company's Amazon Stores and PXT organizations.