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Amazon raises pay for US front-line employees in one billion dollar investment

By Rachel Douglass

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Business

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Amazon has announced a pay increase for its US front-line employees as part of a one billion dollar investment over the next year.

According to the marketplace, the average starting pay for related employees in customer fulfilment and transportation will increase from 18 dollars per hour to more than 19 dollars per hour.

Alongside the pay rise, the company has also revealed a number of further investments in career development programmes and free college tuition support to hourly employees, bringing its total investment in benefits to nearly 10 billion dollars this year.

As part of the move, Amazon has expanded its pay access programme, Anytime Pay, to all its employees across its US operations, corporate and technology networks.

The feature allows employees to access up to 70 percent of their eligible earned pay whenever they choose and as often as they like.

Additionally, a new Amazon Intelligence Initiative will also launch, offering a career advancement programme to employees in engineering roles.

The programme will train participants in Amazon Web Services (AWS), providing full-time employment over its 12 to 14 month duration with the opportunity to be placed in relevant positions on finishing.

In a release, John Felton, Amazon’s senior vice president of worldwide operations, said: “Continuing to invest in pay, providing easy access to earned wages at any time during the month, and offering great benefits and career advancement opportunities are all part of our long-term efforts to be the best employer in the world.”

The initiative follows a number of strikes across Amazon’s US network, with employees alleging unreasonable work hours and unsafe working conditions.

Most recently, the company has also come under fire in the UK, with employees also announcing intentions to go on strike earlier this month over pay amid the region’s ongoing cost-of-living crisis.

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