Megalith
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Back in October, Amazon raised its minimum wage for US employees to $15 as a means of dousing criticism from politicians who insisted the company wasn’t paying its workers enough. The effect of that decision has been made clear in their fourth-quarter and full-year earnings report: job applications actually doubled, with “a record 850,000 work applications for hourly jobs in the US in October 2018,” which is “double its previous record for job applications received in a single month.”
As of Dec. 31, Amazon had 647,500 full- and part-time employees, up 14% from the same period a year earlier. Analysts had worried Amazon’s wage increase would cut into its profits. So far that doesn’t seem to be the case. Amazon reported $3 billion in profit for the fourth quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.8 billion among analysts tracked by FactSet. Amazon unveiled its wage increase just in time for the holiday rush, putting pressure on other companies looking to hire in an already tight labor market.
As of Dec. 31, Amazon had 647,500 full- and part-time employees, up 14% from the same period a year earlier. Analysts had worried Amazon’s wage increase would cut into its profits. So far that doesn’t seem to be the case. Amazon reported $3 billion in profit for the fourth quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.8 billion among analysts tracked by FactSet. Amazon unveiled its wage increase just in time for the holiday rush, putting pressure on other companies looking to hire in an already tight labor market.