WASHINGTON – Amazon.com Inc has increased its average starting wage in the United States to more than US$18 (RM74.80) an hour and plans to hire another 125,000 warehouse and transportation workers, an executive told Reuters.
The world’s largest online retailer has raised pay from around US$17 since May.
In some locations, the company is giving signing bonuses of US$3,000, said Dave Bozeman, vice-president of Amazon Delivery Services, or triple what the company offered four months ago.
The fatter pay cheque shows how big employers are desperate to draw workers in an increasingly tight US labour market. Fewer Americans are seeking jobless claims just as openings have hit a record in the reopening economy.
Bozeman attributed Amazon’s latest compensation increase to fierce competition. The firm did not give exact figures, but a US$1 raise on a US$17-per-hour wage amounts to a hike of about 6%.
Amazon, now the second-biggest US private employer, set a US$15-an-hour minimum wage in 2018. Walmart Inc recently touted average hourly wages of US$16.40, while Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc said it will raise its minimum to US$15 next month.
“It’s a tight labour market, and we’ve seen some of that, as the entire industry is seeing,” said Bozeman, who spoke in an interview at a delivery station in Tukwila here.
He said Amazon will maintain its US$15-an-hour base pay.
Benefits like funding college tuition for workers and starting wages as high as US$22.50 in some areas distinguish the online retailer from its peers, he said.
Amazon is hiring workers to help run 100 logistics facilities launching this month in the US, on top of more than 250 that opened earlier this year. Some workers will aid in the company’s long-in-the-works effort to roll out one-day delivery for Prime loyalty club members.
“The 125,000 (warehouse workers) is really to help us keep up with our growth,” said Bozeman, adding that only a minority of the jobs is to address attrition.
Amazon said it will fill the roles, which are full- and part-time, as quickly as possible, but did not offer a timeline.
Nicole Bilich, a human resources manager, said competitive pay has brought in applicants for her Stockton, California, warehouse that Amazon plans to launch next month.
But, hiring 2,200 people in three to four months is no simple matter.
“The biggest challenge we have is really just the number of people we need,” said Bilich.
Earlier this month, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy told Reuters that the company will recruit for over 55,000 tech and corporate jobs globally. – Reuters, September 14, 2021
