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Amazon’s starting wage for fulfillment and transportation employees is rising to over $22 per hour starting this month.
The company, which is one of the larger employers in the US, has increased its starting wage every year since 2018, when it introduced a $15 per hour minimum wage.
Amazon employs over 800,000 people in these roles, and most full-time members of staff working a 40-hour week will get an average increase of around $3,000 per year. It works out as “at least an additional $1.50/hour,” for most of those employees, according to the company.
Amazon’s Worker Benefits Include Prepaid College Tuition
The total of over $29 per hour includes a wide range of elected benefits, including healthcare from day one on the job, dental coverage, flexible working hours, and a 401(k) with company matching. Amazon also offers the Career Choice program for prepaid college tuition and allows employees to accrue Unpaid Personal Time (UPT).
From early next year, hourly team members in the US will also get Prime membership at no additional cost, for as long as they remain with the company.
Though this pay increase is practically necessary to keep up with inflation, it’s still an important move for one of the nation’s major employers. Amazon has also faced criticism over labor practices that have included anti-unionization efforts. This theoretically reduces the pressure to unionize at those facilities that haven’t already organized.
