Amazon said in a blog post on Monday that it would hire 100,000 US warehouse and delivery workers and raise their pay by $2 per hour through April. The Wall Street Journal was the first to report it.
Amazon said it was investing about $350 million to increase the pay. The new jobs include both full-time and part-time positions, Amazon said, and would bring its total employee count to nearly 900,000 worldwide.
"We are seeing a significant increase in demand, which means our labor needs are unprecedented for this time of year," the blog post said.
The moves are designed to help its warehouse and delivery workers as they deal with increased workloads during the coronavirus outbreak, which is causing more people to shop online.
Amazon said in a blog post over the weekend that as the coronavirus spreads across the world, it's seeing a sharp increase in online shoppers. That has caused some of its most popular brands and household staples to run out of stock, as well as delays to its normal delivery cycle.
"We are working around the clock with our selling partners to ensure availability on all of our products, and bring on additional capacity to deliver all of your orders," Amazon said in a blog post.
Meanwhile, Amazon experienced a technical glitch on Sunday for its Whole Foods and AmazonFresh services as it dealt with a spike in online grocery orders, according to Bloomberg.
Other preventive measures by Amazon in response to the coronavirus outbreak include the launch of a $25 million fund to support partners and unlimited unpaid time off for warehouse workers.
