Amazon.com is set to hire 75,000 more people for jobs ranging from warehouse staff to delivery drivers as the coronavirus epidemic keeps Americans locked in their homes and demand for online orders surge.
The company said on Monday it had filled all of the 100,000 positions it advertised earlier, and the new jobs are in addition to that.
Interested candidates can apply at www.amazon.com/jobsnow.
The e-commerce giant faces the task of hiring more people even as calls grow for it to shut facilities. The company, which has reported virus cases among warehouse staff and faced several demonstrations, said it would roll out temperature checks and face masks for staff at all of its U.S. and European warehouses.
Amazon said it increased pay for hourly employees by $2 per hour in the U.S., C$2 per hour in Canada, and €2 per hour in many EU countries.
Amazon also doubled the regular hourly base pay for every overtime hour worked and are offering extra time off with full pay for those diagnosed with COVID-19.
The company had said it would add $2 to its minimum $15 per hour to U.S. workers’ wages through April, Reuters reported.
Amazon said it expects to spend more than $500 million globally to increase wages for workers during the pandemic, up from a previous estimate of $350 million.
“We know many people have been economically impacted as jobs in areas like hospitality, restaurants and travel are lost or furloughed as part of this crisis and we welcome anyone out of work to join us at Amazon until things return to normal and their past employer is able to bring them back,” Amazon.com said in a blog post on Monday.
Amazon’s headcount fluctuates seasonally, recently peaking for the holiday quarter at 798,000 full and part-time workers, before it advertised the 100,000 jobs following the pandemic.
Some unions and elected officials have criticized Amazon’s response to the outbreak, which that has infected more than 1.8 million people globally and led to more than 115,000 deaths.