Amazon plans to add 40,000 workers to US corporate ranks

[WASHINGTON] Amazon.com says it plans to add more than 40,000 people to its corporate ranks in the US, a hiring spree the company is calling its biggest-ever recruiting and training event. The world's largest online retailer and cloud-computing company said in a statement that it plans to hold a career fair Sept 15, continuing a pattern in recent years of inviting job seekers en masse to learn about the company's open roles.

Amazon didn't specify where the positions would be located, but the company's job posting site on Wednesday listed Seattle, Arlington, Virginia, New York, Bellevue, Washington and Sunnyvale, California, with the most open roles. Amazon employed 950,000 people in the US at the end of June, out of 1.3 million worldwide.

Most of those people work in the company's massive logistics division, primarily in the warehouses that store and pack items. The company's ranks have swelled during the pandemic, as stay-at-home orders made the case for online shopping.

Former chief executive officer Jeff Bezos earlier this year pledged Amazon would focus more on the welfare of its workers, a statement that followed an unprecedented union drive in the company's warehouse ranks and activism among corporate employees at its Seattle headquarters. Amazon shares were up about 1per cent Wednesday morning in New York.

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