Amazon has carried out a new round of layoffs in Costa Rica, affecting employees in several departments as the company continues a broader global restructuring.
Workers reported the new cuts this week, and at least one affected employee shared the termination notice received from the company. The message said Amazon had reviewed its organization, priorities and future needs before deciding to eliminate some positions. The notice was signed by Amazon People Experience & Technology.
The layoffs in Costa Rica reportedly affect areas including finance, call centers and human resources, all part of the service operations Amazon maintains in the country. Some of the affected departments had not been included in previous rounds of cuts. The company has not disclosed how many employees in Costa Rica lost their jobs in this latest move.
Affected workers were told they would continue receiving salary and some benefits for 60 days. However, employees also said their access to company facilities and ID badges had already been restricted. Amazon also offered job-placement support and said human resources staff would hold meetings to answer employee questions during the transition.
The new layoffs come after months of global job reductions at Amazon. In January, the company said it was cutting about 16,000 roles worldwide as part of organizational changes aimed at reducing layers and shifting resources toward areas it considers strategic. Amazon said at the time that severance, outplacement services and other support would be offered to affected employees, depending on local rules.
Costa Rica was also mentioned in international reporting tied to that January round. The cuts affected employees in the United States, Canada and Costa Rica, and followed an earlier October reduction of 14,000 office jobs.
The company’s broader cost-cutting plan has been tied to changes in its corporate structure, pandemic-era over hiring and heavier investment in artificial intelligence. In October, Amazon was targeting as many as 30,000 corporate job cuts, with possible effects across human resources, operations, devices, services and Amazon Web Services.
The latest Costa Rica cuts also follow a government-approved change to Amazon’s employment obligations under our country’s free trade zone regime. Earlier this year, the minimum number of workers Amazon Support Services Costa Rica was required to maintain was reduced from 16,450 to 8,225. The change was approved after the company requested flexibility due to shifts in its global operating model and employment strategy.
That modification did not mean immediate layoffs were required. It did, however, gave the company more room to reduce its payroll in Costa Rica while remaining within the terms of its free trade zone agreement. Amazon has said it remains committed to Costa Rica and has cited more than â‚¡2 trillion in investment in the country over the last decade.
Amazon has operated in Costa Rica since 2008 and grew from a customer service operation into one of our country’s major multinational employers. Its local operations expanded over the years into finance, software development, merchant support and other business services.
The company’s restructuring adds pressure to Costa Rica’s services, one of our country’s strongest sources of formal employment and foreign investment. While Amazon remains a major employer, the repeated rounds of cuts show how exposed local workers can be when multinational companies adjust global staffing targets.
For now, the main unanswered question is scale. Amazon has not released a country-specific number for the latest layoffs, leaving workers and the broader business community waiting to see how deep the new round will be in Costa Rica.
