Amazon to hire a quarter-million new workers as holiday shopping season nears

September 19, 2023 05:19 PM

Christmas is coming, and Amazon is prepping for the big shopping rush by offering jobs to 250,000 people, along with an investment of $1.3 billion for increasing its wages.

The investment into Amazon’s wages will bring the company’s average pay to over $20.50 per hour, with some locations offering up to $28 per hour. The new positions include full-time, part-time, and seasonal fulfillment center and transportation roles, the company announced Tuesday.

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“Whether someone is looking for a short-term way to make extra money, or is hoping to take their first step toward a fulfilling and rewarding career at Amazon, there’s a role available for them,” said John Felton, Amazon’s senior vice president of worldwide operations. “A fulfillment or transportation employee who starts with us today will see a 13% increase in pay over the next three years, likely more, including our annual wage investments, and that’s on top of offerings like prepaid college tuition with Career Choice and healthcare benefits from day one.”

Retailers Holiday Hiring — FILE – An Amazon company logo marks the facade of a building in Schoenefeld near Berlin, March 18, 2022. Amazon said on Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2023, that it will hire 250,000 full- and part-time workers for the holiday season, a 67% jump compared to last year. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn, File)

The new 250,000 positions will mark Amazon adding more than 800,000 jobs in the past five years; likewise, the wage increase to an average of $20.5 per hour will mark an increase of more than 50% over five years.

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Amazon announcing new positions comes after the online shopping company announced last year it would lay off an estimated 10,000 workers in corporate and technology jobs, approximately 3% of its workforce. The online retailer’s move was in step with what other tech companies made around the same time, including Microsoft, Meta, and Twitter, currently known as X.

In June, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) announced an investigation into Amazon over the company’s labor practices, which have been under scrutiny from the Biden administration over safety concerns at warehouses. In announcing the investigation, he urged current and former Amazon workers to come forward as whistleblowers.