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Amazon Now Has More Than 341,000 Employees -- Added 110,000 People Last Year (geekwire.com)
Amazon added more than 110,000 employees during the past year, topping 341,000 people as of the end of 2016 thanks largely to a significant increase in the Seattle-based tech giant's network of fulfillment centers around the world and further expansion of its businesses in several overseas new markets. From a report: Amazon employed just 32,000 people globally five years ago. Amazon's net growth of more than 110,000 people during the past year almost rivals Microsoft's total employment of 120,000 people as of Dec. 31. That comparison of Microsoft and Amazon isn't apples-to-apples given the differences in their businesses, but it gives a sense of the scope of Amazon's employment base. Amazon employs about 40,000 people in Washington state, compared to 45,000 for Microsoft. Amazon doesn't show any signs of slowing down. The company said previously that it plans to add another 100,000 full-time jobs in the U.S. over the next 18 months.
I got out of Amazon stock last quarter after seeing the explosive growth in the payroll. Clearly Amazon has focused too much on hiring to fulfill logistics needs rather than the deployment of automated technology. People are very expensive, especially compared to the low value of material handling work. I know Amazon warehouses are already highly-automated, but Bezos really dropped the ball last year in hiring so many - and many of us investors wondered if all of that hiring was politically-motivated rather than being in the best interest of the stockholders.
In any case, there isn't really an excuse for exploding the payroll amid tepid increases in sales item volume.
And now they've missed earnings. I'm glad I got out.
They're not forcing anyone to take the jobs, dude. If you're too good for what's being offered, move along and apply somewhere else. They don't owe you anything, nobody does.
Jobs are good, but these trends in employment resonate on target with those who say we are the first generation in a long time who will not leave a better life for our children.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
As one who worked security for an Amazon warehouse for a while, they have some of the worst employee turnover I've seen.
Apart from a few who stick because they can get nowhere else, most go within three months and won't ever return.
Making more people suffer each year.
The real question is this: When you consider how many jobs were lost to Amazon as Amazon grew larger and created new jobs, was it an overall net increase or an overall net decrease?
we are the first generation in a long time who will not leave a better life for our children.
And also, kids today are lazy and don't want to work and things don't last as long as they used to and get a belt for your pants for Pete's sake!
My eyes reflect the stars and a smile lights up my face.
Jobs are good, but these trends in employment resonate on target with those who say we are the first generation in a long time who will not leave a better life for our children.
Well that's what Trump wants. He wants to "bring back manufacturing jobs" to the US. Never mind that the factory jobs that left the US did so because of high labor rates and the only way to get them back and keep them is to pay people competitive wages... for China. So if you're good with paying people $2/hour then we can bring back all kinds of jobs. But they won't be ones with good wages. The ones with good wages aren't for slapping together happy meal toys.
Now if you want high paying jobs then you have to invest in education, research, infrastructure, etc and train people to do jobs that are worth more than unskilled assembly work will ever justify.
Right, these are mostly medium to low wage workers. You can't compare these numbers with Google and Microsoft. It's a different type of work force.
You need to compare it against the likes of Walmart.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... says Walmart has 2.3 million employees.
Unfortunately, these jobs pay about like Walmart employee.
Jobs are good, but these trends in employment resonate on target with those who say we are the first generation in a long time who will not leave a better life for our children.
Which generation is that? They've been saying "this generation won't do as well as their parents" since after the baby boomers...
we are the first generation in a long time who will not leave a better life for our children.
And also, kids today are lazy and don't want to work and things don't last as long as they used to and get a belt for your pants for Pete's sake!
Kids (and often adults) are indeed lazy, if you allow them to be. Sometimes the most difficult thing in the world is to be tough on your own children, but you are doing them no service if you become that buddy parent.
I explained to mine how lucky they were not to be born into some family with great wealth; for now, they will get to learn how to do something other than write checks.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
I'm not sure I'd bet on 100,000 more jobs in the next 18 months until I see how things go after Trump closes the door on cheap imports from China with heavy tariffs.
Who are they? It probably depends on where you live.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
Unfortunately, these jobs pay about like Walmart employee.
Jobs are good, but these trends in employment resonate on target with those who say we are the first generation in a long time who will not leave a better life for our children.
Go ahead and type "software" into that search box at the top of the page. Doesn't look quite like slave wages from here. Yeah, I know that most of the jobs are warehouse type jobs, and they don't pay much. I'm guessing that's why, when I was a kid, my father told me to get an education so I could work with my brain instead of my back.
What would be interesting is to first separate the number of exempt employees (salaried) from hourly workers, then find the total number of hours worked by the hourly workers during a week. Divide the total number of hours worked by hourly workers by 40 - the number of hours considered full time employment in the US - to get the number of full time equivalent hourly workers (FTE). This could also be done for calendar quarters to smooth out variations. This might be a better way of describing it's total hourly workforce. You could do the same for exempt folks, but that's somewhat misleading since those folks supposedly work enough hours to get their job done which could be highly variable.
In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. George Orwell
Unfortunately, these jobs pay about like Walmart employee.
Jobs are good, but these trends in employment resonate on target with those who say we are the first generation in a long time who will not leave a better life for our children.
What do you expect after 8 years of trying to "remake our economy"...
trying? No credit for rebuilding after the greatest collapse since the collapse in 1929? No credit for the stock market not just recovering, but at record highs? No credit for unemployment falling to under 5% (Yes, we all know that's funny counting, but when unemployment was over 10% in 2008, that was funny counting then too.)
I don't know how your 401K is doing, but mine has grown 10% per year, on average, over the last eight years. That's exclusive of what I've added over the last eight years.
... in ways that make close-minded, sheltered, WHITE suburban "progressives" happy?
versus the close-minded, sheltered white suburban conservatives? Frankly you don't win points by being patronizing.
"Drive for $15"? So what if it makes minority workers with no skills
That's your code word for blacks and hispanics, yes?
because they come out of failed schools
whose fault is that?
too expensive to compete in the labor market, thus locking them into a cycle of poverty?
so your solution is to keep them in poverty anyway. So they can stay on SNAP at the rest of our expense? indefinitely.
And BTW, $15/hour seems to work just fine in, e.g., Europe and Australia. Somehow they can still sell a Whopper combo for $5 while paying the worker bees a decent wage that doesn't require them to also be on food assistance in order to survive.
It makes sheltered white suburban "progressives" feel good about themselves.
again, not winning points. I'm pretty sure I'm not sheltered. I feel good about doing good things. Some would label them Christian things. You probably call yourself a Christian. If you do, I'd probably label you a hypocrite.
"War on coal"? So what if it regressively makes electricity more expensive and disproportionately hurting the poor, it makes sheltered white suburban "progressives" feel good about themselves.
I'm sensing a theme. Did "progressives" abuse you as a child or something? Back on topic. Yeah, keep your head buried in the sand. Ignore the science. Let's keep burning coal – because it's cheap, and it'll keep a few thousand coal miners in West Virginia employed. Keeping them employed like this probably will end up being the most expensive welfare ever when the climate really starts to warm up. But sure, you won, we're get over it. Well, until we win again. Will you get over it like you told us to?
"Ban fracking!" So what if it regressively makes energy, food, and everything else more expensive and limits job growth for the growing US population, it makes sheltered white suburban "progressives" feel good about themselves.
You have a real jones going on for sheltered white suburban progressives, don't you? I'm beginning to think that you're either Kellyann Conway or Steve Bannon.
You need to lay off the Rush Limbaugh, Breitbart, and Faux News for awhile. You'd be surprised how good it feels once you're not being brainwashed with that drivel. You'll be amazed at how good you feel when you start thinking for yourself again.
But back to the topic at hand: So instead you propose we should keep energy, food, and everything else artificially less expensive while simultaneously destroying the environment because you don't believe the science.
Yeah it's real tough to take you seriously. Have a nice day Kellyann.
I don't know personally, but have spoken to more than a few of their employees who claim that Amazon has a huge reputation for abusing, overworking, and underpaying their employees. I guess its more important to build that mars lander, than to treat employees like humans.
Go ahead and type "software" into that search box at the top of the page. Doesn't look quite like slave wages from here. Yeah, I know that most of the jobs are warehouse type jobs, and they don't pay much. I'm guessing that's why, when I was a kid, my father told me to get an education so I could work with my brain instead of my back.
On the other hand, at least until recently, working with your brain at Amazon seems to have its own challenges -- Amazon promises to change its 'Hunger Games' employee review process. Don't know if things are any better yet. I'd make a President Snow -- Jeff Bezos comparison joke, but the hair is all wrong.
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
Today if you're foolish enough to get an education
Heh. It certainly appears that I should congratulate you on not falling into that pernicious trap.
Jobs are good, but these trends in employment resonate on target with those who say we are the first generation in a long time who will not leave a better life for our children.
According to The Economist, only about 13% of jobs left the US due to trade. 87% were lost to automation.
I'm thinking of updating my resume to remove all of my advanced degrees in computer science, and just put NONE under EDUCATION. Because as far as I can tell, having an education is not helping me in the slightest, and all those degrees are only holding me back.
If pretending to be uneducated doesn't work, maybe I should change my name to something like Sanjeep and show up to interviews in brownface makeup. Pretending to be stupid isn't good enough, I need to signal to interviewers that I'm cheap as shit too.
working with your brain at Amazon seems to have its own challenges
Working with your brain anywhere is challenging. I lived through many years of stack ranking, and never saw any evidence of the sort of dog-eat-dog behaviors described in the Business Insider article. What I did see was managers who kept a small number of underperformers on staff in order to pad their merit raise allocations so they could give their high performers better raises. But then, I never worked for Amazon.
ummmmmm YOU WILL LIKE IT TOO OR ELSE-----trump
now everyone can has job
You are deeply confused. This was the result of Obamacare. Part-time Low Paying Jobs for Everyone! Because employers could no longer afford healthcare for their workers. Read. Learn. Understand.
Every generation has said that "kids today are lazy". Well, if there aren't any jobs then all that's left is to waste time and sponge off the parents.
This is slashdot. Your facts are not welcomed here.
Working with your brain anywhere is challenging.
No. Working with your brain is not challenging. You'd know that if you had a brain and weren't an imposter, smart guy.
If you're not being challenged, you're not really working with your brain; you're just turning a crank.
That kind of "fake news"?
So far Trump has not commented on the last jobs report from the Obama Administration, showing 227K jobs added to the economy and upticking the employment rate 4.8%. Trump did tweet about everything else at 3AM this morning to distract from the good news.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/02/03/the-unemployment-rate-ticked-up-slightly-cue-the-trump-twitter-distraction/
It's not that they can't afford healthcare for their workers, it's that they don't value their workers enough to care (i.e. putting profit and bonuses before their worker's well-being). They have a large base of people who are desperate for any sort of work just to survive. Many workers are competing for the job. The companies are not competing to hire their workers. Yes, some of us have the knowledge, skills, and references we need to find better, higher-paying jobs where companies are competing for us, but not everyone has that option. Just because we can treat our workers like shit doesn't mean we should.
"Anything you say can and will be used against you in a targeted advertisement" - Adam Harvey
In order to get a good job, you need to be good at things. Unfortunately you don't get good at things playing games or updating social media status.
You might want to check your source (unless it is straight out of the ass) and do a little more intelligent reading. part time unemployment went up 0.5% during Obamacare. And that is attributed more to people like me, who didn't need a full time job, except to get affordable insurance. I am now trying to build my own business instead of needing a full time job, that didn't leave time to try my own thing.
Yes! Trump is absolutely responsible for those jobs Amazon added last year! Just ask Him -- or Kellyann!
I wish I had some mod points for you.
As a parent, I am constantly badgering my boy to build skills that his peers don't have, so later he can have the job that his peers wish they had. He's got it in his head that he is going to be a youtube star when he grows up. I see this as the same as moving to Hollywood to become a star, and tell him this almost daily. I sound like my father when I do it, and it kills me.
On the flip side, he's also learned how to solve his own computer problems and navigate the web for self help pretty well in pursuit of his dream. He even has a steady clientele of elderly folks with computer problems making him some money. Next we will spin up a simple site for his videos and blog stuff instead of leaning on youtube.
Parent smarter, not harder.
You are being ripped off every second of every day, so that advertisers can help rip you off even more tomorrow.
Manufacturing jobs are returning to the US because labor is getting too expensive in China,
Not as a general proposition they are not. The labor intensive work is simply moving to other countries with lower labor rates. Sure you might see a little here or there make it's way back to the US but in the big picture labor intensive manufacturing will move to wherever labor rates are low. That is not the USA. I've been all over southeast Asia. A lot of work that was in China is moving to places like Vietnam or India or other places with lower labor rates than China. Though rising, China's labor rates are still pretty low and will remain low for some time to come just because they have so many people (supple & demand). If China's labor rates achieve parity with the US, China will have FAR surpassed the US as the worlds leading economy.
But the new factories in the US require fewer workers and those workers must possess a college degree, eliminating the vast majority of Trump voters who are eagerly waiting for the 1980's manufacturing jobs to return.
You don't necessarily need a college degree but you certainly will need more training than you will get from high school. Used to be you could leave high school, march down the figurative street to the local assembly plant and get a pretty good paying job. Now things are more complicated than that. We still need machinists and welders and all sorts of skilled labor. We even need unskilled labor but it isn't going to pay very well. Basically if you didn't have to get a certification or degree to do it, chances are it's going to be low paying work. Nobody is going to let you put together a jumbo jet with nothing more than a high school diploma unless you already have a lot of experience you can point to. That's not the world we live in anymore.
People have this idea that manufacturing is a great way for people without much education to make a good living. I've worked in manufacturing since the early 1990s and I can tell you from personal experience that nothing could be further from the truth. Manufacturing of the sort done in the US requires substantial education and skill. Manufacturing companies aren't looking for bodies, they are looking for people with specific skills and experience.
In the meantime, Common F. Sense is eagerly waiting for someone to justify why factory workers suddenly need a college degree.
They don't but they do need more than a high school diploma. Manufacturing these days isn't the same as it was 20 years ago and even less so than 40 years ago. You don't need a college degree for every job in manufacturing but for any job that pays better than minimum wage you probably do need at least some post high school training, vocational education, certifications, and in some cases an associates degree. Modern manufacturing isn't some place to dump uneducated workers with no skills or training. Not the sort done in the US anyway.
Now that said, the US has a real problem in that we have under-invested in vocational programs and skilled trades for a long time now and it's a real problem for manufacturing companies. We've also actively discouraged millions of young people from the skilled trades by telling them that college is the only good option if they want to make a decent living even though that is demonstrably not true. We've also done a masterful job of denigrating vocational education and manufacturing as dead ends with no future. Germany is a good example of a country that has done a good job encouraging the skilled trades and they have good results to show for it.
Fuck the greedy institutions who feel burying students in college debt for a decade or two is somehow the "right" answer.
The "greedy institutions" you speak of are the legislatures that have cut school funding at every level for decades now. When I was college age, going to a state school was reasonably affordable. Now not so much. The cost of a college degree has risen MUCH faster than inflation. Instead of treating education as a public good, our idiotic obsession with self sufficiency has resulted in a lot of young people with way more debt than is reasonable and college degrees that many of them won't make full use of. This is almost 100% the fault of the perverse incentives put in place by our state and federal governments.
Jobs didn't leave the US simply because of high labor rates but also taxation.
That's mostly nonsense. The tax burden on a US based manufacturing company making products for US consumption or for export is minimal at best. And large scale manufacturing concerns get substantial tax breaks on their CapEx and plant investments as a general rule. Taxation is a real issue but it has little to do with why jobs leave the US in most cases. It might be the cherry on top but it isn't the big issue in most cases.
Jobs that leave the US typically do so for 1 of 2 reasons. Labor costs or comparative advantage. Labor costs are generally the big one here. Labor rates for the work are too high compared to those available elsewhere. If you have a labor intensive production process that work is going to migrate to where the labor is cheap sooner or later. It's like osmosis. The converse is true for people seeking work - they will migrate to where pay is comparatively high. If the people so hell bent on building a wall on the Mexican border had a brain they would spend their effort improving the Mexican economy instead of wasting money on a pointless racist boondoggle that won't solve the actual problem. People come to the US for jobs because they can't find them at home. Help them get work at home and they'll stay home if one is so worried about that. As for comparative advantage, work tends to be cheapest where the supply chain is most favorable.
Example in some places you need to have signs approved by a board that meets once a month.
Signs to do what? And what does that have to do with manufacturing or jobs leaving the US? If you are talking about local stores, those aren't moving overseas. I have family (father and wife) that sits on two zoning board of appeals so I'm quite familiar with them. The regulatory burden they impose is generally quite modest and the zoning rules typically exist for good reasons. A good tip to remember when considering tearing down a figurative wall is to leave it in place until you fully understand why it was built in the first place.