Amazon On Hiring Spree, Adding 5,000 Jobs, Many in SoCal

Written by Reuters for AOL Jobs with additional reporting by Patch Editor Renee Schiavone.

Amazon said it is looking to fill more than 5,000 new full-time jobs at 17 of its fulfillment centers across the United States. That's roughly a 25 percent increase in full-time fulfillment center staff, which currently number more than 20,000 in the country.

According to the company, one of those 17 fulfillment centers is right here in Southern California, in San Bernardino.  The company's career page also indicates dozens of jobs are available in Irvine.

"The more than 5,000 jobs now available across the fulfillment network include picking, packing and shipping customer orders while engaging with high-end, state of the art technology," an Amazon press release about the hiring spree states.  "The jobs offer competitive pay, a comprehensive benefits package, company stock awards and bonuses."

Amazon has been building new fulfillment centers closer to customers in recent years as the company tries to speed up delivery of online orders and reduce shipping costs. 

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Last year, Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos used the front page of the company's website to announce a Career Choice program that pays thousands of dollars for warehouse employees to take technical and vocational courses in high-demand areas including engineering, information technology, transportation and accounting.

Amazon made its latest hiring push as President Obama is due to visit a company fulfillment center in Chattanooga, Tennessee on Tuesday to speak about jobs in the United States.

The President will discuss proposals to jumpstart private sector job growth and make America more competitive, according to a White House spokeswoman.


(Some Reporting by Alistair Barr; Editing by Chris Reese)