Jeff Bezos Says AI Means “You’re Not Going to Need to Have a Two-Earner Household,” as Amazon Cuts Nearly 30,000 Corporate Jobs
by Sari Moon · Thought CatalogBy Sari Moon
Updated 1 minute ago, November 12, 2026
Jeff Bezos predicts AI will let some families live on 1 income or work 3 days a week. Amazon’s CEO, Andy Jassy, has told employees that the same technology will shrink the company’s corporate workforce.
In an October interview on Fox News’ “Special Report,” Bezos argued that rising productivity would give households more choice about how much they work.
“You’re not going to need to have a two-earner household. If you want it, fine. If you don’t want to have it, one of the people might drop out,” the Amazon founder said.
He also predicted employers would struggle to fill jobs: “You’ll have a labor shortage.” The interview took place at Blue Origin’s factory in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Amazon has cut nearly 30,000 corporate jobs since late 2025, with about 14,000 eliminated in October 2025 and 16,000 in January 2026.
In a 2025 employee memo, Jassy wrote that AI would “reduce our total corporate workforce as we get efficiency gains from using AI extensively across the company.”
Asked about the cuts, Bezos pointed to Amazon’s pandemic hiring: “Well, Amazon is in a very special position where coming out of COVID, we had hired so many people.” He said the company had expanded its workforce as orders surged.
Bezos is also investing in the technology behind his forecast. Project Prometheus, the AI startup he launched in 2025, is developing tools he said would be “so easy to use that anyone will be able to be an engineer.”
Other AI executives have offered a different forecast for workers. Within 5 years, half of all entry-level white-collar jobs could disappear because of AI, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has warned.
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