Statement on Amazon’s Jobs Announcement

Amazon is Causing More Job Losses than Gains, and It’s Lowering Wages

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Stacy Mitchell, co-director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, and co-author of the recent report, “Amazon’s Stranglehold: How the Company’s Tightening Grip is Stifling Competition, Eroding Jobs, and Threatening Communities,” responded to the announcement on jobs made today by Amazon:

“Amazon’s jobs announcement this morning has it in the headlines as a job creator. But there’s a dirty secret about jobs at Amazon. As we found in our recent report on the company, as Amazon gains market share, it destroys more jobs than it creates,” Mitchell said. “What’s more, these jobs are bad jobs. Our research finds that Amazon pays significantly lower wages than the prevailing rate for comparable work, that it’s experimenting widely with ways to erode job security, and that working conditions in its warehouses are grueling and dehumanizing.”

The report found that Amazon has eliminated about 149,000 more jobs in retail than it has created in its warehouses, and the pace of retail layoffs is accelerating as Amazon gains market share. The report also analyzed Amazon’s wages In 11 metro areas and found that it pays its warehouse employees 15% less on average than the prevailing wage for other warehouse workers in the same region. In Atlanta, for example, Amazon pays 19% less than the regional average for warehouse work. In Louisville, its wages are 17% lower, and in Phoenix 6% lower.

“What Amazon’s announcement really shows is how fast the company is growing, and that’s bad news for U.S. workers, who stand to lose more than they gain as Amazon increasingly dominates commerce,” Mitchell added. “Amazon is at the center of many of our most alarming economic trends, including the rapid increase in temporary and on-demand work, lower wages, and rising inequality.”

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The Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) is a 42-year-old national nonprofit research and educational organization. ILSR’s mission is to provide innovative strategies, working models and timely information to support strong, community rooted, environmentally sound and equitable local economies. www.ilsr.org – Email stumolanger@ilsr.org for press inquiries.