Amazon boosts hourly pay to over $18, to hire 125,000 workers

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Yahoo-Reuters

Amazon.com Inc hiked its average starting wage to $18 per hour on Tuesday and said it plans to hire more than 125,000 warehouse and transportation workers in the United States.

Reuters exclusively reported the news earlier on Tuesday.

The world's largest online retailer also said it would pay a sign-on bonus of $3,000 in some locations and the hourly wage could go up to $22.50. Amazon was among the first few retailers to set a $15 an hour minimum wage in 2018.

Amazon had said in May it would pay around $17 in average wages.

Read more: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/amazon-hire-125-000-workers-102635619.html

[yaesu]

1. Don't think that will help one of the worst employee turnovers in the country. nt

[PatSeg]

2. I think they've begun to see the error of their ways

They finally ran out of employees to turnover - oops, bad business model.

[Crowman2009]

3. I'll believe it when their workers aren't running the equivalent to a half marathon...

...or their warehouses aren't catching on fire.

[nitpicker]

6. +1

Or having to pee in bottles.

[PatSeg]

7. True, we can always hope

but with Amazon I wouldn't hold my breath.

[KPN]

4. Peanuts!

[EX500rider]

8. Is there another company paying more to put items in boxes and tape them up?

[KPN]

9. Who cares. Still peanuts. Just because everyone's

doing the same thing doesn’t mean it’s not peanuts or that it’s right.

[EX500rider]

10. Unfortunately unskilled labor that requires zero education will never pay a lot

[KPN]

11. That's not a lot. Hell, I can't get anyone to weed whack my field for less than $25/hr

but I have no problem paying that. Weed whacking isn’t skilled labor.

[EX500rider]

12. That requires owning your own transportation and working tools

[BumRushDaShow]

5. I know it was all in the news here regarding Amazon hiring about 5000 here in Philly metro

Amazon is hiring 4,800 jobs across the Philadelphia region

The warehouse jobs come with an average starting pay of $18 per hour plus health, retirement, and other benefits.

by Christian Hetrick
Published 4 hours ago

Amazon plans to hire thousands of workers in the Philadelphia region as the retail giant accelerates its rapid expansion across the area. The company announced Tuesday that it was seeking nearly 4,800 employees in the city and surrounding counties, part of a nationwide plan of hiring 125,000 people. The warehouse jobs come with an average starting pay of $18 an hour plus health, retirement, and other benefits. Positions include package sorters and staffers who unload trailers.

With the pandemic pushing consumers to shop online, Amazon has snatched up facilities and last year posted more job openings here than any other employer. Amazon had more than 50 warehouses in operation or being built in the region as of April. The company currently employs about 25,000 people in Pennsylvania. Amazon officials announced the latest hiring spree during a news conference outside City Hall, where elected officials praised the company for hiring residents at a time when unemployment remains high.

There are now nearly 670,000 jobs in Philadelphia, still below the 750,000 the city had in February of 2020, Mayor Jim Kenney said. “Today’s announcement is a big step on the road to recovery,” Kenney said. Amazon officials would not say how many workers from the city would be hired. But it plans to focus its hiring efforts in underserved communities, said Sam Bankole, a senior staffing manager for the company. That could include in Camden and Wilmington, as well, Amazon officials said.

The company will also expand benefits for workers to include full college tuition and skills training programs. The web retail giant has faced criticism from labor and community groups. An Inquirer analysis of federal data showed that Amazon’s warehouses in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware had higher rates of serious injuries than facilities run by other companies. Residents have also complained about increased traffic from delivery trucks in neighborhoods hosting the warehouses.

https://www.inquirer.com/business/amazon-philadelphia-job-openings-warehouse-delivery-20210914.html

[Johnny2X2X]

13. Amazon is making changes

And this pay and benefits package is setting the floor. Other businesses have to match or risk losing their workers to Amazon.