Amazon Increases the Workers Average Starting Pay 

Amazon raised the Average pay for US employees to more than $18 an hour. The company is also planning to hire an additional 125,000 warehouse and transportation workers, having previously said it’ll add 55,000 people for tech jobs. The average Amazon starting pay was around $17 in May.

The company increase is a response to rising competition. However, it’ll maintain its $15 an hour base pay. Last week, the e-commerce giant also announced plans to expand the education benefits it offers to US employees. Starting in January, more than 75,000 operations employees will be eligible to have their full college tuition paid for

The wage increases and perks come as companies compete for workers amid a labor shortage in the US, but Amazon has manned criticism for inappropriate behaviour towards warehouse and delivery workers. SOme of the concerns include not paying workers for time spent in line or being screened. Amazon employees have protested over conditions amid the pandemic, with some saying sufficient safety measures weren’t in place. The e-commerce giant said it is improving the educational outcome favoring US employees. The online retail giant said it will invest $1.2 billion in education and skill developmenr training by 2025, including full tuition at hundreds of education partners in the US.

Dave Clark, CEO of the worldwide consumer at Amazon, in the release, said that the company is now the largest job creator in the US, and we know that investing in free skills training for our teams can have a huge impact on hundreds of thousands of families across the country. The CEO said that over 50,000 employees globally have already participated in the company’s Career Choice education program.