Amazon plans further 4,000 UK jobs despite global slowdown

Amazon will create more than 4,000 permanent jobs to become one of the UK’s top employers, despite fears that rising inflation will hit consumer demand.

The UK expansion plans come amid a sharp slowdown in overall revenue growth for the global ecommerce group, which was reported at the lowest rate since the end of the last dotcom crash in April.

The company said the new hires this year will vault the company into the top 10 private sector employers in the UK, alongside the likes of John Lewis and Alliance Boots. Amazon said it aims to have 75,000 permanent employees by the end of 2022.

The $1.1tn company has often pointed to its role as a creator of jobs as its market power has come under scrutiny from regulators across the world.

But the company also admitted the 4,000 jobs planned this year represented a return to “more normal levels of growth”. In the UK, Amazon created 10,000 jobs in 2020, and then added 25,000 in 2021.

The hiring spree came after a boom in sales during the coronavirus pandemic when people were stuck at home, but Amazon has since said it took on too many workers and that it would seek to shed some warehouse space.

Analysts have questioned how Amazon will fare at a time when shoppers are more broadly cutting back spending in the face of sharply rising prices. Other retailers have already warned over slowing sales and signs of a consumer slowdown. The tech group is hoping for a further surge in sales from its Prime Day sales event this week.

Despite these pressures, Amazon plans to open two new “fulfilment centres” — its description of the large warehouses that collect and send out its goods — in the second half of this year in Knowsley, near Liverpool, and Wakefield in West Yorkshire.

It has also announced plans to spend more than £1.8bn in the next two years building and operating data centres in the UK through Amazon Web Services. The group also expects to increase investment through its Prime Video media arm in original TV and film content in partnership with UK-based Shepperton Studios.

The company’s new roles will be spread across the UK, including at the new centres in Wakefield and Knowsley. Amazon pays a minimum of between £10 and £11.10 per hour in the UK, depending on the location, more than the UK’s national living wage.

Amazon is also creating new jobs at its Fresh Stores that use “Just Walk Out” technology, with 19 open across the UK, including the first outside London in Sevenoaks, Kent. Further store openings are planned this year, according to Amazon.