The online retailer Amazon is expanding its labor force around the nation by adding 5,000 new jobs in its U.S. distribution warehouses. The company also plans to hire 2,000 customer service employees in several locations, including Kennewick, Wash., reports The Seattle Times.
Amazon believes that its efforts to continue developing a system of distribution centers and expanding the grocery service, AmazonFresh, will pay off in the long run. Tom Szuktak, chief financial officer, said to reporters last week, “We are investing for the large opportunity we have in front of us.”
According to Curt Woodward at Xconomy.com, Amazon could be on its way to employing a substantial number of workers in the Seattle area, to the tune of about 20,000, getting closer to the University of Washington’s 25,000-member labor force. Seattle developer Matt Griffin credits Amazon with “bringing in a lot more intellectual capital to the Northwest.” Microsoft also employs a huge labor force in the region, but these employees are spread throughout the Bellevue-Redmond-Seattle areas. In contrast, Amazon’s dense concentration of workers in downtown Seattle affects the city’s urban planning and housing for sure.
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