Amazon employed approximately 1,576,000 full-time and part-time employees as of December 31, 2025, according to the company’s annual report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. That ranks it among the largest private employers worldwide, yet below its 2021 peak.

The data below traces every figure to Amazon’s SEC annual report filings and its own newsroom. It covers headcount by year, segment revenue, seasonal hiring, corporate layoffs, and the rising revenue each employee generates.

Key Takeaways

Amazon employed approximately 1,576,000 full-time and part-time employees as of December 31, 2025, per its SEC 10-K filing.
The workforce grew by 20,000 in 2025, a rise of about 1.29% over the 1,556,000 reported a year earlier.
Amazon’s headcount remains roughly 32,000 below its 2021 peak of 1,608,000, even as revenue kept climbing.
Net sales reached $716,924 million in 2025 against a near-flat headcount, lifting output per worker for a third straight year.
Amazon announced 14,000 corporate role cuts in October 2025 and about 16,000 more in January 2026, its largest reductions since 2022.
Amazon set out to hire 250,000 full-time, part-time, and seasonal US roles for the holiday season, far above its filed year-end count.

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Amazon employed approximately 1,576,000 full-time and part-time employees worldwide as of December 31, 2025.
The company reported 1,556,000 employees a year earlier, as of December 31, 2024.
Amazon’s reported net sales reached $716,924 million in 2025, up 12% year over year.
North America accounted for $426,305 million of 2025 net sales, the largest of the three reportable segments.
AWS generated $128,725 million in 2025 net sales.
International net sales accounted for 23% of consolidated revenues in 2025.

By the numbers: Amazon’s FY2025 10-K reports approximately 1,576,000 full-time and part-time employees. Set against net sales of $716,924 million, that headcount has stayed near flat while revenue rose 12% in 2025, lifting output per worker for a third straight year.

Amazon Employee Count by Year

Amazon’s year-end headcount reached approximately 1,576,000 in 2025, the most recent figure in its SEC filings.
The company reported 1,608,000 employees at the close of 2021, its highest year-end total.
Headcount fell to 1,541,000 in 2022 and 1,525,000 in 2023 before recovering.
Amazon employed 1,298,000 at the end of 2020, after a pandemic hiring surge added roughly 500,000 in a single year.
The workforce stood at 798,000 in 2019 and just 341,400 in 2016, a near-fivefold rise across that span.
Each year-end figure reflects the full-time and part-time count Amazon discloses in the Human Capital section of its annual report.

Year-End	Full-Time and Part-Time Employees
2025	1,576,000
2024	1,556,000
2023	1,525,000
2022	1,541,000
2021	1,608,000
2020	1,298,000
2019	798,000
2018	647,500
2017	566,000
2016	341,400
2015	230,800

Source: Amazon SEC Form 10-K filings, FY2015-FY2025

Amazon Workforce Growth and the 2021 Peak

Amazon’s headcount peaked at 1,608,000 at the close of 2021, the highest year-end total in its history.
The workforce then contracted for two straight years, falling to 1,525,000 by the end of 2023.
Headcount recovered to 1,556,000 in 2024 and 1,576,000 in 2025, still short of the 2021 high.
Amazon added roughly 500,000 employees in 2020 alone as pandemic demand surged across its fulfillment network.
The post-2021 plateau marks a clear break from the rapid expansion that took Amazon from 341,400 employees in 2016 to 1,608,000 in 2021.

Amazon’s 2025 workforce sits 32,000 below the 1,608,000 it reported at the end of 2021. The curve, a steep climb then a plateau, matches a pattern across our tech workforce coverage.

Recent Developments

In October 2025, Amazon announced plans to cut approximately 14,000 corporate positions, reported as its largest round of job cuts since 2022.
In January 2026, Amazon announced a second round affecting about 16,000 corporate employees, the second large-scale reduction in three months.
Amazon attributed the January 2026 cuts to streamlining operations, reducing bureaucracy, and adapting to the adoption of artificial intelligence technologies.
Amazon recorded $2.7 billion in estimated severance costs in 2025, primarily related to planned role eliminations.
Over 300,000 Amazon employees worldwide have participated in Career Choice, the company’s education-funding program, as of its 2025 filing.
Amazon’s filed year-end headcount for 2025 predates the second-round corporate reductions announced in January 2026.

Why it matters: Amazon paired roughly 30,000 announced corporate cuts across October 2025 and January 2026 with a $2.7 billion severance charge, framing the reductions as an AI-era streamlining. The two rounds together rank as the company’s deepest corporate downsizing since 2022.

Amazon Revenue by Segment and Workforce Output

Amazon’s North America segment generated $426,305 million in 2025 net sales, up from $387,497 million in 2024.
International net sales grew to $161,894 million in 2025 from $142,906 million a year earlier.
AWS reached $128,725 million in 2025, up from $107,556 million in 2024.
Total net sales rose to $716,924 million in 2025 from $637,959 million in 2024.
Amazon reported net income of $77,670 million in 2025, up from $59,248 million in 2024 and $30,425 million in 2023.
Operating income climbed to $80.0 billion in 2025 from $68.6 billion in 2024.
Cash capital expenditures rose to $128.3 billion in 2025 from $77.7 billion in 2024, much of it technology infrastructure.
North America net sales rose from $387,497 million in 2024 to $426,305 million in 2025, the segment that employs most of Amazon’s operational workforce.

Amazon Layoffs and Corporate Restructuring

Amazon’s October 2025 round cut approximately 14,000 corporate positions, the largest single reduction since 2022.
A second round in January 2026 affected about 16,000 corporate employees, the second large-scale cut in three months.
Amazon tied the January 2026 cuts to streamlining, reduced bureaucracy, and the adoption of artificial intelligence technologies.
The company booked $2.7 billion in estimated severance costs in 2025, primarily for planned role eliminations.
Operating income still rose to $80.0 billion in 2025, absorbing the severance charge and a $2.5 billion FTC settlement.

Worth noting: Amazon recorded $2.7 billion in 2025 severance costs tied to planned role eliminations, alongside a $2.5 billion FTC settlement, yet operating income still climbed to $80.0 billion. The cuts read as efficiency, not distress, since profit rose despite both charges.

Amazon Revenue Per Employee

Amazon’s 2025 net sales reached $716,924 million against approximately 1,576,000 employees.
The 2024 inputs were $637,959 million in net sales and 1,556,000 employees.
The 2023 inputs were $574,785 million in net sales and 1,525,000 employees.
Net income reached $77,670 million in 2025, up from $59,248 million the year before.

Year	Net Sales ($M)	Employees	Net Sales Per Employee
2023	574,785	1,525,000	~$377,000
2024	637,959	1,556,000	~$410,000
2025	716,924	1,576,000	~$455,000

Source: Derived from Amazon FY2025 Form 10-K (net sales divided by year-end headcount)

The takeaway: Amazon’s net sales per employee rose from about $377,000 in 2023 to roughly $455,000 in 2025 while the headcount barely moved. The widening gap between revenue and headcount is the clearest signal that the recent cuts are an output-per-head story, not a retreat from scale.

Amazon Seasonal and Hourly Workforce

Amazon set out to hire 250,000 full-time, part-time, and seasonal roles across its US fulfillment and transportation operations for the holiday season.
Amazon said nearly one-third of people who join as a holiday hire return in a later season.
The company committed $2.2 billion to additional pay for fulfillment and transportation employees.
Average total hourly compensation reached more than $29 when the value of elected benefits is included, per Amazon.
All seasonal employees earn at least $18 per hour, with health-care coverage available after 90 days of employment.
Seasonal employees who stay can see an average pay increase of 15% over their first three years, the company said.

Amazon’s business is affected by seasonality, which historically has resulted in higher sales volume during its fourth quarter, ending December 31. The filed headcount is a single December 31 snapshot, so it understates seasonal churn. Against a far leaner AI-era operation like OpenAI’s workforce, Amazon’s operational scale stands out.

How Amazon Counts Its Workforce

Amazon’s reported headcount includes full-time and part-time employees and excludes independent contractors and temporary personnel.
The company states it uses independent contractors and temporary personnel to supplement its workforce beyond the reported total.
Amazon discloses the figure once a year, as of December 31, in the Human Capital section of its Form 10-K.
The count spans corporate staff, fulfillment and warehouse associates, and transportation roles supporting all three reportable segments.

The headline number is a floor, not a ceiling: drivers employed by third-party Delivery Service Partners fall outside the reported total.

Is Amazon’s Workforce Growing or Shrinking?

Amazon’s workforce is growing in headline terms but stalling against its own history. The company added 20,000 employees in 2025 to reach approximately 1,576,000, yet that total still trails the 1,608,000 it reported at the end of 2021. Growth is concentrated in operations as corporate ranks shrink.

What Is Amazon’s Revenue Per Employee?

Amazon’s 2025 net sales of $716,924 million, divided across roughly 1,576,000 employees, drive a revenue-per-employee ratio that has climbed every year since 2023. The figure works out to nearly $455,000, up from about $377,000 two years earlier. For a labor-light tech employer at the other end of the range, compare Meta’s workforce data.

Conclusion

Amazon employed approximately 1,576,000 full-time and part-time people at the end of 2025. That total is up 20,000 on the year but still 32,000 below its 2021 peak of 1,608,000. Paired with roughly 30,000 announced corporate cuts and rising revenue per employee, the figures point to a company optimizing output per head, not chasing raw headcount.

The operational side still hires at scale, with 250,000 holiday roles posted and nearly one-third of seasonal hires returning. The story this year is less about how many people Amazon employs and more about how much each produces.