Amazon goes on US hiring spree

The announcement comes a day ahead of an appearance by President Barack Obama on Tuesday (30 July) at one of the Internet retailers facilities in Tennessee.

Amazon, which has about 97,000 employees, is creating jobs as it expands its distribution network to speed up deliveries. The facilities are in 10 states across the country, from South Carolina to California.

Amazon said that more than 5,000 jobs were now available across its warehouse network, touting pay that is 30% higher than that of traditional retail stores.

"In the last year alone, Amazon opened eight fulfillment centres in the US, resulting in thousands of new jobs being added to communities nationwide," the company said in a statement.

The Seattle-based retailer also said it was currently hiring in four states for more than 2,000 jobs in its customer service network, which includes a mix of full-time, part-time and seasonal jobs.

Amazon's hiring comes amid a continued push by the company to favour growth into new ventures, even at the expense of near-term profitability under the premise that profit growth will come later.

The company last week reported a quarterly loss of US$7m even though revenues climbed 22% to US$15.7bn.

Amazon has spent heavily promoting its tablet, the Kindle Fire, as well as establishing a live-streaming video feature along with producing its own original programming.

Source: AFP via I-Net Bridge