Online retail giant Amazon has announced it will create more than 4,000 jobs in the UK this year.
The move, which would include jobs in new warehouses in Wakefield and Knowsley, would place the company in a top ten place to work in the UK private sector.
The jobs will be permanent, bringing the company’s total UK workforce to 75,000.
It comes after the company added 2,500 jobs in the UK in 2021 as the Covid pandemic amplified a shift towards online shopping.
Amazon also opened four new warehouses across the UK in 2021.
People were shopping online more before the pandemic, but lockdowns and Covid restrictions have given that a boost – including home delivery of groceries bought online.
Amazon’s thousands of new UK positions will be split between warehouse work, corporate work in London and Manchester, and technology work in Edinburgh and Cambridge.
“We continue to invest in talent across the UK, from trainees in Swansea to data scientists in Edinburgh,” said Amazon UK Country Manager John Boumphrey.
But the company has been criticized in the past for the working conditions of its employees and for its response to workers who have tried to organize to negotiate better wages and working conditions.
Amazon’s first employers’ union was formed in April 2022 after a hard-fought battle at its Staten Island hub in New York.
Other Amazon locations continue to organize, including in Garner, North Carolina and Campbellsville, Kentucky.
The company currently has a warehouse it calls “fulfillment centers” in Bolton and Swansea and says it will continue to create roles outside of London and city centres.
The company added that it estimates more than 85,000 UK small and medium businesses sell on Amazon, which “supports an additional 250,000 jobs across the UK”.
“That means Amazon has added 40,000 new jobs in the UK over the last three years,” the company said.
“Amazon has invested billions of pounds across the UK, making it one of the top UK job creators in recent years.”
The online giant previously announced the creation of 1,500 new apprenticeship positions in 2022.
The announcements come at a time when companies are scrambling for staff as the number of roles available outstrips the number of people available to fill them.
Add Comment