Amazon USA has raised the minimum wage to $15 per hour for all employees. The new minimum wage applies to all seasonal, temporary, part-time, and full-time employees. It comes into effect on November 1st, 2018.
The new minimum wage will benefit more than one-quarter-of-a-million employees, Amazon announced in a press release. More than 100,000 workers that Amazon will hire nationwide this holiday will also benefit from the new minimum wage.
New minimum wage – Amazon encourages rivals
Jeff Bezos, Founder and CEO of Amazon, said:
“We listened to our critics, thought hard about what we wanted to do, and decided we want to lead. We’re excited about this change and encourage our competitors and other large employers to join us.”
Amazon’s public policy team says it will start advocating for a new minimum wage across the country, i.e., an increase in the federal minimum wage. The national minimum wage is the lowest amount an employer is legally allowed to pay an employee. Most countries express it as an hourly rate.
Jay Carney, Senior Vice President of Amazon Global Corporate Affairs, said:
“We will be working to gain Congressional support for an increase in the federal minimum wage. The current rate of $7.25 was set nearly a decade ago.”
“We intend to advocate for a minimum wage increase that will have a profound impact on the lives of tens of millions of people and families across this country.”
Amazon workers’ benefits
Apart from the new minimum wage, Amazon workers will continue to receive the following benefits:
– Comprehensive healthcare, which includes dental, medical, as well as vision coverage.
– Parental leave of up to 20 weeks.
– 401k matching.
– Career Choice, which pre-pays ninety-five percent of workers’ tuition courses in high-demand fields. This also includes training for jobs at other companies.
– Career Skills, which trains hourly workers in critical job skills. Résumé writing, computer basics, and how to communicate effectively, for example, are critical job skills.
There are more than 575,000 Amazon workers globally. LinkedIn’s 2018 Top Companies ranked Amazon as #1, as did The Harris Poll’s Corporate Reputation survey. In Fortune’s World Most Admired Companies, Amazon came in as #2.
