Amazon Raises Starting Wage To $18 For Many Workers

Amazon AMZN has plans to hire another 125,000 workers in American cities and is raising its minimum wage to $18 for fulfillment and transportation workers, the company announced in a press release Tuesday.

These additional jobs are on top of the 40,000 corporate jobs for which the company plans to hire, according to a different announcement made earlier this month. 

Why It Matters: When Amazon raises its wages, others take notice. According to a February research paper, when Amazon raised its minimum wage to $15, hourly wages increased by 2.6% by companies in the same commuting zone. 

The company’s CEO Andy Jassy told CNBC the federal government should raise the minimum wage: “I hope the government works on that,” he said Tuesday. 

Amazon is making more hires to keep up with the company’s growth, according to remarks made in the interview. 

Low-wage workers have seen bigger gains — including signing bonuses and higher pay — than they’ve experienced in decades as pandemic restrictions have eased up. 

Photo via Wiki Commons.