Leaked Memo: Amazon Is Worried It Is Running Out of New People to Hire

A recently leaked Amazon memo has revealed that the e-commerce giant is worried it might run out of people to hire in its U.S. warehouses by 2024.

Recode reports that Amazon is facing an unusual problem according to a leaked internal memo — it may run out of people to hire for its U.S. warehouses by 2024. This poses a surprisingly big issue for the company, potentially halting the firm’s quality and growth plans for the future.

Jeff Bezos at Blue Origin press event ( Joe Raedle /Getty)

(Ross D. Franklin/AP)

Amazon has six “levers” it can activate to combat this issue, including raising wages and increasing warehouse automation, but these methods are likely to only push the problem out by a few years. In order to truly manage the issue, a number of sweeping changes to how the business operates are required, according to Amazon staff.

Internal research included in the memo states: “If we continue business as usual, Amazon will deplete the available labor supply in the US network by 2024.” The report added that Amazon’s labor crisis was imminent in a number of areas, with internal models predicting that the firm was likely to exhaust its available labor pool in the Phoenix, Arizona, metro area by the end of 2021 worker contracts and in the Inland Empire region of California by the end of 2022.

Amazon’s internal report predicted the available pool of workers by examining a number of factors including income levels and a household’s proximity to current or planned Amazon facilities. Amazon was contacted about the memo and confirmed its existence but declined to comment.

A large part of Amazon’s success is based around its features, such as one-click online shopping and same-day Prime delivery, all powered by its massive workforce. If the company were to fail to hire new employees and continue to bolster its employee base, many of these features that have made Amazon the dominant online shopping company could be at risk.