The American online store giant Amazon is expanding significantly in the United States and Canada. 100,000 people will be hired, both part-time and full-time, the e-commerce giant announced Monday.
Amazon plans to open 100 new business buildings in logistics centres, sorting centres and other sites by this month. The announcement comes in addition to the 33,000 new office and technology jobs the Seattle-based company on the US west coast announced last week.
The new employees will receive a starting wage of at least $ 15 an hour, Amazon assures. That is more than double the minimum wage that applies in the United States ($ 7.25). Several states and cities do have higher minimums.
In Seattle, for example, businesses with at least 501 employees must pay at least $ 16.39 an hour. Amazon also offers $ 1,000 “signing money” in select cities.
Amazon is one of the companies doing profitable business during the corona crisis. At times when physical stores have to close, more people make their purchases online. The Amazon share has already risen by almost 70 percent this year.
The online shopping giant is growing worldwide. In the first half of this year, the number of full-time and part-time employees increased by 10 percent to 876,800 worldwide, a recent financial report from the company found.
Earlier this month, Amazon also announced 7,000 additional jobs in the UK, and similar announcements have already been made in Ireland and South Africa.