Vaccinated candidates could receive bonuses
It’s the battle for workers — warehouse edition. And Amazon, one of the world’s largest companies, has thrown the latest punch.
In its most recent pandemic-hiring binge announcement, Amazon said Thursday it is looking for another 75,000 workers for its fulfillment and logistics network across the United States and Canada. Spokesperson Andre Woodson didn’t have Lehigh Valley-specific hiring numbers, but Pennsylvania was identified in a news release as one of 14 states with the most open positions.
Woodson did say 3,500 permanent jobs are being added in the Philadelphia region, while 1,000 new jobs are coming to the Pittsburgh area.
Amazon has more than 25,000 full- and part-time employees in Pennsylvania, including about 3,000 workers in the Lehigh Valley at its fulfillment centers in Upper Macungie Township and in Palmer Township.
Amazon said the open positions have an average starting pay of more than $17 per hour, plus sign-on bonuses in many locations of up to $1,000. In addition, Amazon is offering a $100 benefit to new hires who already are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
Amazon and many other employers hiring are facing a tight job market that is forcing them to raise wages and offer bonuses to try to lure job candidates. The market is particularly competitive among Lehigh Valley warehouse employers, which for a number of years now have grappled with area manufacturers for certain workers, said Susan Larkin, chief operating officer of Allied Personnel Services, an employment agency with offices in Allentown and Easton.
“It’s booming,” she said. “Pretty much every warehouse in the Lehigh Valley has a hiring need right now across the board. And I think with Amazon, the $17, that’s been the starting wage for a while now for any warehouse.”
Just this week, shipping supplies giant Uline said it was hiring another 175 people in Upper Macungie, with warehouse positions starting between $23 and $30 an hour and a bonus of more than $7,000 payable in December.
“They’re about the highest,” Larkin said of Uline, “but I would say you’re really not seeing much below that $17 that Amazon is touting.”
As of March, the Lehigh Valley’s transportation and warehousing sector employed 35,100 people, according to data from the state Department of Labor & Industry. That was actually down 400 jobs from February’s total, a drop state industry and business analyst Steven Zellers attributes to a readjustment following the seasonal peak hiring over the holidays.
Still, March’s total in the sector was 3,300 jobs more than the employment count a year earlier, as the pandemic was just beginning. Pretty much every other sector in the Lehigh Valley had a year-over-year decline in the number of jobs, led by leisure and hospitality.
While things are speeding toward a full reopening, the potential bumps in the road were fully visible last Friday, when U.S. employers reported adding just 266,000 workers in April, which fell well short of expectations. While some have blamed the $300-a-week federal unemployment benefit for the difficult hiring climate, many people still have child care issues that have kept them at home while others may be concerned about their health and safety at work. Many warehouses, for one, struggled to keep employees safe and healthy early in the pandemic as they attempted to quickly adapt operations where people typically worked shoulder to shoulder.
“There’s going to be some volatility for a while but, in general, the economy is going to continue to improve,” Zellers said.
For many small businesses looking to hire, also don’t discount the competition across industries with the likes of Amazon, a company that posted a first-quarter profit of $8.1 billion — a staggering 224% increase from $2.5 billion in the first quarter of 2020.
“Warehousing jobs are not for everybody,” Larkin said. “These wages are great, but they’re not for everybody. There’s a physical aspect, the shift may not always work for people, and those large, large facilities definitely don’t work for everybody.
“It’s putting wage pressure on other industries that are struggling to recover and bring people back, like hospitality and retail — those sectors that have been struggling to get back to where they were.”
For those businesses struggling to keep up with the wage growth, Larkin said they should look at what they can offer, from flexible scheduling to enhanced benefits to additional paid time off.
But competing businesses still have to be in the ballpark on pay.
Amazon, and many others, also continue to offer opportunities to existing employees to get vaccinated.
Amazon in late March began on-site vaccination events at fulfillment centers in Missouri, Nevada and Kansas. That effort has expanded to more than 250 locations across the country and Canada, Amazon said.
Further, on Thursday, Amazon announced it is launching on-site vaccinations for its Pennsylvania employees. Woodson said an on-site vaccination event is happening this week at the Palmer facility.
Those interested in roles with Amazon can visit amazon.com/ apply.
The company has warehouse positions listed online for its Upper Macungie and Palmer locations. The hourly pay rates, the listings state, start at up to $18.20 an hour, effective as of Sunday for select roles.
In addition, the $1,000 sign-on bonus is for certain employees who start before June 19, with the payouts to occur in two installments: $500 after 30 days, and $500 after 90 days.