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Summary
- Amazon to hire 10,000 people across the regions of Dartford, Doncaster, Gateshead, Hinckley and Swindon.
- It plans to invest £10 million towards skills training in the UK over the next three years.
- The firm is also hiring another 75,000 workers for its North American operations.
Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) has announced that it will hire around 10,000 workers in Britain. This will take the total staff strength of the ecommerce company in the UK to 55,000 by the end of this year. The firm had said that it was also hiring 75,000 employees for its North American operations.
The new jobs to be created in the UK will be across parcel and fulfilment reception centres, engineering, software development, digital marketing, fashion, AI, cloud computing and video production.
Besides, the firm plans to invest £10 million towards skills training over the next three years in the UK. Courses such as accountancy, HGV driving, and software development would be offered for skill enhancement. The company’s share price (NASDAQ:AMZN) was up 9.53 per cent to USD 3,161.47 at the day’s close on 13 May.
Also Read: Amazon Stocks (NASDAQ:AMZN) Shine On Stock Split Hopes
New UK jobs
The new jobs will boost the British employment market, and the firm’s salaries for operations roles will begin from £10.80 per hour in London. Kwasi Kwarteng, business secretary, UK government, said that the Amazon announcement was a huge boost for the national economy.
The company would be opening up new operations across the regions of Dartford, Doncaster, Gateshead, Hinckley and Swindon.
The Seattle-based technology giant has been one of the biggest gainers from the pandemic-led situation across the world. As the outbreak started, consumers heavily depended on Amazon for delivery of goods, especially groceries and home items.
Amazon Q1 earnings
Amazon’s results for the first quarter of this year ending 31 March were remarkable, with net sales rising 44 per cent to US$ 108.5 billion. Its operating income jumped to US$ 8.9 billion for the three-month period (Q1 2020: US$ 4.0 billion). The net income also rose more than thrice to US$ 8.1 billion, up from US$ 2.5 billion for the same quarter previous year.
In fact, the leading ecommerce player has now posted four consecutive record quarterly profits as the physical stores were forced to close across the world.
The tech firm had planned to raise pay for over 0.5 million of its overall strength of employees, costing more than US$ 1 billion to it. The higher salaries followed Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos’ remarks to its shareholders that the firm would work to do a ‘better job’ for its employees.
Additionally, Amazon was also growing its advertising business as brands' placements led to higher sales. Ad revenue was increasingly becoming a substantial income driver for the firm. Market analysts predict that Amazon's advertising business might double by the year 2023.
Also Read: Jeff Bezos sells Amazon shares worth US$2.5 billion in May
Criticism over working practices
Despite growing at a healthy pace, Amazon has been recently criticised for its working and taxation practices. Also, it was criticised for not paying sufficient taxes in correspondence with its huge sales volumes. It countered this point by saying that taxes are based on profits and not sales, which were muted due to high investments.
Regarding its work practices, Amazon said that it offered competitive salaries, ensuring the wellbeing of its staff.
Also Read: Amazon Dodges US$300 Million EU Tax Order
