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Amazon Creates 125,000 More Fulfillment and Transportation Jobs Starting at $18 an Hour

Amazon New Jobs

Amazon is adding 125,000 new warehouse and transportation jobs as it seeks to staff up the 350 fulfillment centers, sortation centers, regional air hubs and delivery stations it has opened this year, 100 of which will open in September alone.

This latest hiring spree, which is already underway, is in addition to the 40,000 new corporate and technology jobs the company announced earlier this month. The fulfillment and transportation jobs come with starting pay of $18 an hour — a rate that can go as high as $22.50 an hour in some locations — as well as full benefits for full-time employees and the company’s latest incentive, paid college tuition for frontline workers. Sign-on bonuses of up to $3,000 are also being offered in some locations.

With the holiday season looming, Amazon is clearly playing hardball to bring in top talent and fill out its ranks in the midst of a tight labor market. Since the beginning of the pandemic, Amazon reports that it has hired more than 450,000 people in the U.S., making it the largest job creator in the country at this time.

Amazon was one of the first major U.S. retailers to boost its minimum wage to $15 an hour for all employees, back in 2018. Now, the competition for hourly workers is propelling many other retailers to follow suit.

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“We take our responsibility as an employer seriously and want our employees to succeed and thrive,” said Dave Clark, CEO of Worldwide Consumer at Amazon in a statement. “That’s why we offer an average starting wage of over $18 per hour, provide a great range of comprehensive benefits —including healthcare coverage, parental leave, career training, and ways to save for the future — and have a team of thousands working to build a safe and inclusive work environment.”

This latest swath of new jobs comes just a day ahead of the company’s Career Day Sept. 15, a free virtual event with Amazon recruiters that will feature career coaching, workshops and career insights from CEO Andy Jassy and other experts.

“Amazon’s job creation efforts will be welcomed by job seekers across America—especially in more rural locations, which are traditionally not the focus of strong retail investment,” said Neil Saunders, Managing Director, Retail for research firm GlobalData in a statement. “Our research has found that salaries for logistics jobs are 16% higher than shop-floor jobs, and a higher percentage of logistics roles have scope for full-time working and provide benefits such as healthcare. In essence, this expansive job creation effort will provide an injection of wealth and opportunity into local areas.”

In addition to hiring employees for its own operations, Amazon also highlighted its network of 2,500 Delivery Service Partners — independent SMBs that leverage the company’s operations and logistics experience to create their own delivery services. Amazon said that its Delivery Service Partners will hire an additional 50,000 workers by the end of the year.

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