Amazon Inc, the U.S. multinational conglomerate with operational focus on e-commerce, cloud computing, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence, has disclosed that it would invest $2.1 billion in a scheme that will cover the college tuition of all 750,000 of its frontline workers in the country.
This is coming as the online shopping giant is struggling to attract and retain staff amid an industry wide labour shortage.
Specifically, the company stated that it would invest $1.2bn in the scheme, from which workers can be able to access the annual funding for as long as they remain its payroll.
Amazon, in a blog post, stated that its college tuition offer would apply at “hundreds of education partners across the country” without stating which ones and will cover other types of education including high school diplomas and English language courses, as well as extending on-the-job career training to 300,000.
Commenting on the firm’s drive towards skills building, its head of worldwide consumer, Dave Clark, said: “Amazon is now the largest job creator in the US, and we know that investing in free skills training for our teams can have a huge impact for hundreds of thousands of families across the country,”
In recent times, many U,S firms are offering a range of benefits and incentives to lure employees back to the workforce as restrictions ease.
Available data from the U.S Labor Department, indicated that job openings hit a fresh record high of 10.9 million in July, surpassing the number of unemployed people by more than two million.
Economic analysts say a mixture of people leaving the workforce during the pandemic, lingering concerns about COVID-19 pandemic and a lack of childcare have prolonged the shortage.
It would be recalled that in August, Walmart said it would pay the costs of tuition and books for its hourly staffers, with about 1.5 million people eligible just as another firm, Target, said it would offer free undergraduate degrees to more than 340,000 employees at its U.S stores.
