In a new push to hire another 125,000 workers in the US, Amazon says it will offer average starting wages at $18 per hour.
The e-commerce giant has opened over 250 new warehouses and delivery stations across the country this year. The expanded footprint promises to help Amazon better serve customers, but the company also needs to attract more manpower to prepare and deliver the packages.
As a result, Amazon is touting some new employee perks, including better pay. However, the key word in today’s announcement is average starting wage. In some locations, the amount is going up as high as $22.50 per hour. In other cases, the starting pay will remain $15 per hour, which Amazon implemented for all workers in 2018.
The company will also offer a $3,000 sign-on bonus in certain locations. People interested can go to www.amazon.com/apply to learn more.
Amazon has hired over 450,000 people in the US since the pandemic began, and has over 950,000 total workers in the country. But according to The New York Times, there’s evidence the e-commerce giant had an abnormally high turnover rate for its workers, even before the pandemic began.
Labor conditions at Amazon warehouses have attracted plenty of controversy, from high quotas to insufficient bathroom breaks. However, the company has maintained it offers better pay, conditions, and benefits than rival retailers. Last week, Amazon also offered to pay college tuition to its 750,000 front-line workers at the company. But the perk has some limitations, which includes capping the annual paid tuition to a mere $5,250 per employee.
