Amazon will create 10,000 new permanent jobs in the United Kingdom in 2021, taking its total workforce in the country to more than 55,000, it said on Friday.
The announcement provides a welcome boost to Britain's precarious labour market, with unemployment running at almost 5%.
New Jobs
Amazon said the new jobs will include roles across its operations network, at its corporate offices and Amazon Web Services (AWS).
The group plans to open a new fulfilment centre in Hinckley, central England, creating 700 jobs. It will also open a parcel centre in Doncaster, northern England, and further fulfilment centres in Dartford, near London, Gateshead in northeastern England and Swindon in western England, each creating more than 1,300 permanent jobs.
In addition to roles that pick, pack and ship customer orders, jobs will be created in engineering, human resources, IT and finance.
The corporate roles will be across fashion, digital marketing, engineering, video production, software development, cloud computing, AI and machine learning, the company said.
Amazon also announced a £10 million ($14 million)investment over three years to train up to 5,000 employees in new skills.
'Excellent Pay And Benefits'
Amazon’s UK country manager, John Boumphrey, commented, "We’re creating thousands of good jobs across the UK from a diverse range of roles with excellent pay and benefits. We’re also delighted to be working with the British Chambers of Commerce on a pioneering approach to our Career Choice programme to provide the training, and skilled workers, needed to boost local economies right across the country.
"We’re proud of the front-line roles we offer across Amazon, and we also know that they will be a stepping stone for some in their career journey. For people whose ambitions fall outside of our company, we are pleased to support them by paying for training and academic courses that can get them to where they want to be."
Since 2010, Amazon has created more than 40,000 jobs and invested over £23 billion in its UK operations to provide convenience, selection and value to UK consumers, while supporting tens of thousands of UK businesses and creative professionals including sellers, AWS developers and authors, the company added.
News by Reuters, additional reporting by ESM. For more Technology news, click here. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
