With demand for Amazon’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) marketplace increasing unabated during the COVID-19 pandemic, the eCommerce giant is in hiring mode yet again.
After bringing on more than 100,000 new workers over the past four weeks, the tech giant said it’s now looking to hire an additional 75,000 warehouse and delivery employees to meet the surge in orders as millions of people across the U.S. shelter in place.
“We continue to see increased demand as our teams support their communities, and are going to continue to hire, creating an additional 75,000 jobs to help serve customers during this unprecedented time,” Amazon wrote in a COVID-19 update. “We know many people have been economically impacted as jobs in areas like hospitality, restaurants, and travel are lost or furloughed as part of this crisis and we welcome anyone out of work to join us at Amazon until things return to normal and their past employer is able to bring them back.”
Amazon also said it continues to invest in pay increases for its warehouse and delivery workers. The company now expects to spend more than $500 million to meet that end. That’s up from $350 million it originally pledged on March 15. The money will go to increase wages, boost safety at its facilities, and improve benefits for employees. Amazon has already increased the pay for hourly workers by $2 per hour in the U.S. and doubled the regular hourly base pay for every overtime hour worked. Workers diagnosed with COVID-19 get extra time off with full pay.
Amazon has been facing backlash from its warehouse and delivery workers, who contend the tech giant hasn’t done enough to protect them from COVID-19. That has led to strikes and calls for Amazon to step up its safety measures to keep employees out of harm’s way.