As the coronavirus pandemic supports a surge in online retail, digital advertising, and cloud computing, Amazon plans to hire 55,000 people in corporate and technical jobs in a global recruitment drive.
Andy Jassy, who took over from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos in July, said the company wanted to hire additional people in several places across the world to help drive rapid development.
The majority of the jobs will be generated in the United States, where the company aims to hire 40,000 people. The UK will create about 2,500 jobs, with the rest going to India, Germany, and Japan.
Amazon said it would hire the new employees for its London and Manchester headquarters, as well as its Cambridge and Edinburgh "tech hubs." Against the backdrop of rising online shopping demand and nationwide workforce shortages, the company wants to expand its UK fulfillment center network.
Amazon announced in May that it would hire 10,000 people in the United Kingdom, including at four new warehouses and offices in London, Manchester, Edinburgh, and Cambridge. This brought the overall number of employees to almost 55,000. Last month, Amazon announced that employees would return to work in January for an initial three days a week.
In his first press interview since taking over from Jeff Bezos, Jassy revealed the details of the news. He told Reuters that the company required additional employees to meet demand in retail, cloud computing, and advertising, among other areas. Project Kuiper, the company's ambition to deploy satellites into orbit to expand broadband access, would also necessitate extra personnel, he said.
The recruitment drive will take place on September 15 as part of the company's careers day. The new hiring would represent a 20% increase in Amazon's tech and corporate workforce, which currently numbers around 275,000 people worldwide, according to the company.
Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, postponed plans to impose an online sales tax that would have impacted Amazon and attempted to help brick-and-mortar merchants close the gap with online retailers earlier this year.
