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Ride-hailing service Lyft became the latest tech companies to lay off staff, while Amazon said it would pause new hires in its corporate business, as tech companies slim down to cope with the economic slowdown.

Lyft, a rival to Uber, on Thursday announced it was cutting 683 jobs — 13 per cent of its 4000 employees — in a bid to cut costs.

“We worked hard to bring down costs this summer: we slowed, then froze hiring; cut spending; and paused less-critical initiatives. Still, Lyft has to become leaner, which requires us to part with incredible team members,” Lyft co-founders Logan Green and John Zimmer said in a memo to staff.

In a filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission, the ride-hailing company said the lay-offs would cost it between $27mn and $32mn in restructuring fees and severance packages.

The lay-offs at Lyft, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, are the second round of cuts in recent months for the ride-hailing company. The company said it will sell its vehicle service business.

The news came after payments group Stripe said it would cut about 14 per cent of its workforce due to prepare for “learner times”.

Separately, Beth Galetti, an Amazon recruitment director, told employees the company would pause “new incremental hires in our corporate workforce”, in an effort to “balance our hiring and investments with being thoughtful about this economy”.

The job losses and pause in hiring are a sign of how darkening economic conditions are forcing tech companies to cut costs and build buffers to cope with a slowdown in consumer spending.

Read more about the tech slowdown here.