AI Shockwave: U.S. Layoffs May Exceed One Million This Year! UK Pension Age Could Rise to 70? 40% of Small Businesses Owe Unpaid Taxes
- TBA
- 3 days ago
- 6 min read
Roughly 14,000 corporate jobs are to go at tech giant Amazon
Amazon has announced it will cut around 14,000 corporate jobs. According to the company, affected employees and teams will receive notifications from leadership. It remains unclear how this round of layoffs will specifically impact Amazon’s 75,000 employees in the UK.
According to reports from Reuters and The Wall Street Journal, earlier estimates suggested Amazon would cut about 30,000 jobs.
Data released by Amazon in July showed the company posted profits of £19.2 billion. The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) is believed to be one of the main reasons behind the layoffs.
Beth Galetti, Amazon’s Senior Vice President of People Experience and Technology, addressed the decision in an internal email to staff: “Some people might ask, ‘Why are we cutting jobs when the company is performing so well?’” she wrote. “We must recognize that the world is changing rapidly. This generation of AI is the most transformative technology since the Internet—it enables companies to innovate at unprecedented speed.”
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has also stated multiple times over the past year that AI is reshaping how Amazon operates. “In the future, we’ll need fewer people to perform some of the tasks currently handled by humans. Generative AI is playing an increasingly important role in planning, analysis, and forecasting—helping teams move faster and make better decisions.”
According to The New York Times, Amazon plans to replace more than 500,000 roles with robots in the future, automating up to 75% of its operations. This round of layoffs is seen as part of a broader restructuring aimed at “streamlining operations and speeding up decision-making,” allowing algorithms to take over many coordination, reporting, and decision-making tasks traditionally handled by middle managers.
Analysts note that this logic is spreading throughout corporate America. Generative AI systems are now capable of efficiently performing typical managerial tasks—writing reports, summarizing progress, drafting memos, and summarizing meeting notes. Consulting firm Gartner predicts that by 2026, one in five organizations worldwide will use AI to eliminate at least half of their management layers.
In addition to Amazon, Target—the second-largest general retailer in the U.S.—has announced its first major round of layoffs in a decade, cutting nearly 2,000 positions. Paramount Pictures, following its merger with Hollywood studio Skydance, also plans to cut 1,000 jobs.
According to an October report by human resources firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, U.S. companies have so far announced 946,000 job cuts in 2025—the highest level since 2020. Of these, more than 17,000 are directly related to AI, and another 20,000 involve automation and technological upgrades. The tech industry alone has cut 108,000 jobs this year.
The report predicts that total U.S. corporate layoffs this year are likely to exceed one million. Analysts say this wave of job cuts is reminiscent of the first automation-driven employment shock in manufacturing and technology between 2005 and 2006.
State pension age may rise beyond 70 as thousands more live to 100
As the number of centenarians in the UK hits a record high, experts warn the government may need to raise the State Pension age to over 70.
Experts are warning that the UK government may have to accelerate plans to raise the State Pension age to above 70, as the number of people living to 100 reaches an all-time high.
According to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), there were 16,600 centenarians in the UK in 2024, double the number from 20 years ago. In the same year, the population aged 90 and over was estimated at 625,000, up more than 50% since 2004 and 2.2% higher than in mid-2023. This includes 210,000 men and 415,000 women.
The UK government currently reviews the State Pension age every six years. At present, the age is 66, with plans to rise to 67 by 2028 and to 68 by 2046. However, as more people are expected to enjoy up to 35 years of retirement, the pension system faces what officials describe as a “serious financial challenge.”
According to government sources, a review of the State Pension age is under way. Possible measures being considered include reforming the “triple lock” — the policy that increases pensions each year by whichever is highest among inflation, average earnings growth, or 2.5%. Discussions may also consider bringing forward future pension age increases, potentially pushing the eligibility threshold into the 70s.
Analysts also note that longer life expectancy will significantly increase the burden on personal savings: “People will need to prepare financially for a much longer retirement,” they said.
Between 2021 and 2023, life expectancy in London was about 80 years for men and just over 84 years for women. The area with the highest female life expectancy in England was Kensington and Chelsea (86.5 years), while Hart had the highest for men (83.4 years).
In addition, the September inflation rate, published this week, stood at 3.8%. This figure is typically used to determine annual increases for various social benefits — including Universal Credit, tax credits, and disability allowances — and serves as a key reference for the State Pension triple lock.
However, since average wage growth this year reached 4.8%, exceeding inflation, pensions are expected to rise by 4.8% in April 2025. This means:
Those reaching pension age after April 2016 will see the new State Pension increase to £241.30 per week (about £12,547.60 per year), an increase of £574.60;
Those who retired before April 2016 will see the old State Pension rise to £184.90 per week (about £9,614.80 per year), an increase of £439.40.
HMRC has ‘lost control’ of small businesses as missing tax hits 40%
Data from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) for the first half of this year show that UK small businesses failed to pay around 40% of the corporation tax owed for the 2023–2024 fiscal year, prompting criticism that the tax authority has “lost control” of this sector.
By definition, small businesses are companies with an annual turnover below £10 million and fewer than 20 employees. In the 2019–2020 fiscal year, this group accounted for less than half of the UK’s overall tax gap; by 2023–2024, their share had risen to 60%.
According to the report, although the overall tax gap — the difference between the amount of tax owed and the amount actually collected — has slightly narrowed, the unpaid corporation tax from small businesses rose from £12.3 billion to £14.7 billion. Out of the £36.7 billion in corporation tax owed by small firms that year, only £22 billion was collected, meaning around 40.1% went unpaid.
Across the UK economy, the total uncollected tax for 2023–2024 amounted to £46.8 billion, or 5.3% of total tax liabilities, down slightly from 5.6% the previous year. HMRC collected £829.2 billion in total tax revenue during the period.
The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) said many firms find the tax system overly complex, and when they seek assistance, HMRC’s response is often slow. The FSB’s policy chief urged: “HMRC should prioritise improving its helpline services, reducing response times, and helping businesses navigate tax processes more smoothly. This would not only improve tax collection efficiency but also cut productivity losses caused by bureaucratic delays.”
While small businesses now account for the largest share of the tax gap, HMRC estimates that wealthy individuals make up only about 5% of it. However, the National Audit Office (NAO) has warned that HMRC may be underestimating the scale of tax evasion among the wealthy.
The advocacy group Tax Justice UK criticised the findings, saying: “Evidence suggests that non-compliance among the ultra-rich is far higher than official estimates. Many hide vast amounts of wealth offshore, beyond HMRC’s reach.”
The spokesperson added: “The real issue is that HMRC lacks the resources and support needed to close the tax gap — and the true shortfall could be much greater than the published figures suggest.”In its latest public spending review, the government allocated £1.7 billion to HMRC to recruit 5,500 compliance officers and 2,400 debt management staff over the next four years. The aim is to improve service quality while cracking down on deliberate tax evasion.
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