New Delhi: The US retail giant Amazon, plans to hire 55,000 people in a global recruitment drive, about 40,000 of those will be in the US itself. According to Amazon, all open roles are for corporate positions and tech jobs. The company is also hiring thousands of warehouse employees to pack and ship online orders.
Last year Amazon hired around 5 lakh people
Despite other companies having to lay off workers due to the pandemic, Amazon is hiring on a large scale. Amazon has been able to expand its workforce as the Covid-19 pandemic has prompted more people to stay home and order essential items from online shopping sites. Last year alone, Amazon employed 5 lakh people.
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Amazon - second largest private US employer after Walmart
Amazon currently has more than 1.3 million people working worldwide, making it the second-largest private US employer after retail rival Walmart who also plans to hire 20,000 people at its Walmart and Sam's Club warehouses to fill online orders.
However, like Walmart, Amazon continues to face pressure on how it treats its employees. A union push at an Amazon warehouse in Alabama failed earlier this year, but other unions still have their sights on the company.
Teamsters accused the company of exploiting employees
Teamsters, one of the country's largest unions, said in June that it would pursue its efforts to unionize Amazon employees. Teamsters said the company exploits employees by paying them low wages, forces them to work at fast speed and offers no job security.
More hiring due to booming business
Amazon said on Wednesday that the creation of a large number of jobs is due to its growing businesses, including its cloud computing unit and its project to send satellites into space. The Seattle-based company said the open US jobs are spread over 220 Amazon locations across the country.