Prime employer Amazon will create 4,000 new permanent UK jobs
AMAZON will become one of Britain's biggest private sector employers after creating another 4,000 permanent jobs. The online giant has taken on 40,000 workers here over the past three years, at a cost of £1billion.
The 4,000 new jobs take Amazon’s overall UK total workforce up to 75,000. The roles will be distributed around the country and throughout its businesses.
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Amazon UK country manager John Boumphrey said: “We’re continuing to invest in talent right across the UK, from apprentices in Swansea to data scientists in Edinburgh."
“Applicants recognise we are an employer that offers great development potential, and we are proud to have so many employees growing and taking the opportunity to learn new skills that will create paths to new jobs at Amazon and beyond.”
The many available jobs will include roles at new warehouses opening in Wakefield, West Yorks, and Knowsley, Merseyside.
There will also be vacancies at sorting centres, delivery stations and Amazon’s Fresh Stores, which use technology to enable people to buy food and other household items without scanning or having to pay at a till.
The jobs also include corporate roles and specialist positions at its cloud computing business Amazon Web Services. These include roles appointments in software development, product management and engineering.
Amazon Web Services controls a third of the cloud computing market and is effectively the backbone of the modern internet, providing businesses and organisations with storage, servers, remote access computing, networking, email and security.
Its services are used by governments and businesses worldwide.
Earlier this year, Amazon announced the creation of 1,500 new apprenticeships.
Mr Boumphrey said that people are increasingly recognising that the internet retail giant is an attractive place to work.
Depending on the location and role, Amazon pays a minimum of £10 an hour and offers staff pensions, private medical insurance, life assurance, income protection and an employee discount.
It also offers workers the chance to learn new skills and qualifications, from HR and accountancy to driving HGVs.
The GMB union said that while it welcomed the new jobs, Amazon needs to improve its safety record in its warehouses.
Laurence Turner, the union’s head of research and policy, said: “The creation of jobs needs to go hand in hand with addressing the health and safety crisis at Amazon.”
