United Parcel Service (UPS) has announced another 30,000 job cuts; coming after the 48,000 roles eliminated in 2025. Amazon has followed with 16,000 layoffs in its latest restructuring. These are not just numbers; they are dreams, hopes, school fees, mortgages, and destinies cut off in a paragraph.
And this is not an American story alone. The only difference is that in the United States, companies are mandated to disclose major headcount changes. In Nigeria and across much of Africa, the law does not compel such disclosure, but make no mistake: the same structural shifts are happening silently, without headlines.
Two decades ago, many Tier-1 Nigerian banks employed between 7,000 and 12,000 workers. Today, their balance sheets have multiplied, some by more than 100x, yet staff strength has barely moved, perhaps 1.5x at best. I offer no names; there is no need to make any worker feel targeted. The point is simple: organizational physics has changed.
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Companies have optimized the trinity of enterprise design: People, Processes, and Tools. Better processes, powered by smarter tools, reduce the demand for people. Firms continue to search for that equilibrium point where human labour is minimized, automation is maximized, and margins are optimized. And they will keep searching.
Economists often comfort us with: “When one job closes, another opens,” echoing the promises of the Industrial Revolution. True, new opportunities will emerge. But the transition is brutal when governments fail to create safety nets that allow displaced workers to retrain, retool, and reinvent themselves. Ask those who lost banking jobs in Nigeria how seamless it has been to transition.
So, when companies report record profits while simultaneously cutting workers, a societal imbalance emerges. It may be time for governments to pay attention, because ordinary workers cannot shoulder the full weight of economic transformation alone.
The world is advancing but balance through labour which enables people to rise must never be left behind. Strength to all those affected by these career redesigns.
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