Report: 10% of Amazon Employees in Ohio Are on Food Stamps

A new report claims that ten percent of Amazon’s Ohio workforce is receiving food stamps.

The Columbus Dispatch reports that Amazon has made the list of huge companies where workers are still forced to claim food stamps after a new report revealed that ten percent of the companies workforce in Ohio have been claiming federal aid. According to Policy Matters Ohio, as of August 2017 Amazon had 1,430 workers in the Ohio area on food stamps. Zach Schiller, Policy Matters’ research director, stated that food stamps become a taxpayer-funded subsidy for companies that pay extremely low wages.

Schiller said in a statement,

We’ve appreciated having more employment, but maybe we should be focusing economic development dollars on good jobs. It’s pretty clear that a lot of these jobs are not good jobs,” he said. “That should raise a policy question for our public officials, and that’s why we think its worth pointing out.

In order to qualify for food stamps in Ohio, a family of three has to make less than $26,208 a year, which works out at about $12.60 an hour for an employee working 40 hours a week. Amazon did not respond to a request for comment from the Columbus Dispatch, but the Ohio Development Services Agency commended the company for generating job opportunities in Ohio state. The agency said in a statement:

Amazon has created thousands of new jobs and generated millions of dollars in new payroll consistent with Ohio’s requirements for economic incentives. These jobs provide economic opportunity to Ohioans that may not have had it before.”

Amazon is the 53rd largest employer in Ohio with a workforce of approximately 6000 people with more expected to be employed as Amazon opens two more distribution centers in the state. Ohio has also campaigned to be home to Amazon’s second headquarters which could see the addition of 50,000 jobs and $5 billion in investment.

Amazon has recently been in the spotlight for working conditions in the UK, as both warehouse workers and delivery drivers report being driven to exhaustion attempting to hit performance quotas.

Update — Amazon contacted Breitbart Tech with the following statement:

“Amazon full-time hourly employees in Ohio earn between $14.50 and $15 an hour as a starting wage with regular pay increases plus Amazon stock and performance-based bonuses. We also provide comprehensive benefits which include health, vision, and dental insurance coverage starting on day one, generous maternity and family leave, tuition for career education, and a network of support to succeed.”