Amazon will hire roughly 100,000 new warehouse and delivery employees in the United States amid a “significant” surge in demand sparked by the coronavirus outbreak, according to a company memo obtained by the Wall Street Journal.
“We are seeing a significant increase in demand, which means our labor needs are unprecedented for this time of year,” Dave Clark, Amazon’s senior vice president of operations, reportedly wrote in the memo, adding that the company will boost $15 starting wages of $15 an hour to $17.
The report follows a blog post in which Amazon said its additional stress on its supply chain due to the virus has caused delays.
The post read:
In particular, you will notice that we are currently out of stock on some popular brands and items, especially in household staples categories. We are working around the clock with our selling partners to ensure availability on all of our products, and bring on additional capacity to deliver all of your orders.
Clark joined retail and grocery executives in a weekend phone call with President Trump to discuss plans to keep its supply chains open as Americans stock up on food and other household essentials due to the outbreak that originated in Wuhan, China.
“Supply chains in the United States are strong, and it is unnecessary for the American public to hoard daily essentials. The President thanked the executives for their close partnership and pledged to stay in close communication,” said White House spokesman Judd Deere.
Amazon is the second-largest U.S.-based employer with around 800,000 workers worldwide.
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