Amazon.com raise the pay of hourly workers by investing more than US$2.2 billion in its bid to fulfill their earlier agreement and transportation operations in the United States, the company said on Wednesday.
The base pay will increase by at least $1.50 to more than $22 per hour, the e-commerce firm said, adding that the increase translates to $3,000 per annum for staff working 40-hour weeks.
Amazon employs over 800,000 full-time and contract workers in these roles in the U.S., according to the company.
The raises will take effect this month for the hundreds of thousands of employees working for Amazon’s sprawling US logistics operation, boosting the average base wage to more than $22 an hour, the company said in a blog post on Wednesday. The pay bump comes as inflation, though well below its post-pandemic highs, continues to eat away at the value of workers’ paychecks.
Employees will start receiving Prime, Amazon’s speedy shipping and video subscription service, as part of their compensation beginning early next year, the company said. The additional investment in pay and benefits, $2.2 billion, is the company’s largest, logistics chief Udit Madan said in the blog.
The Seattle-based company tends to announce pay tweaks and seasonal hiring goals ahead of the holiday shopping rush. Last year, Amazon said it would spend $1.3 billion boosting worker wages and benefits.
Amazon is the second largest private-sector employer in the US, trailing only Walmart. In a survey of Amazon warehouse workers conducted by researchers last year, about half reported struggling to afford enough food or a place to live. Amazon called the report “deeply flawed,” saying it failed to confirm respondents worked for the company.
