Amazon is running out of employees, feared major problems

Amazon apparently has a problem finding enough employees in some regions who are willing and able to work in the US group’s large warehouses and distribution centers. This should be apparent from an internal document from 2021. as the magazine Recode reports, internal assessments by a working group at Amazon assume that the world’s largest online mail order company will soon no longer be able to find enough human staff for its shipping centers in some regions of the US.

According to the internal newspaper, the area around the metropolis of Phoenix in the US state of Arizona and the interior of California would be particularly affected by the problem. In Arizona, huge problems with recruiting new warehouse workers were expected by the end of 2021, while in the so-called Inland Empire in California, it should be ready by the end of 2022. According to the report, estimates are based on factors such as typical incomes in the region concerned and proximity to existing or planned Amazon locations.

Doubts about the validity

If Amazon doesn’t quickly increase the wages of its warehouse workers to keep or hire them longer or work towards greater warehouse automation, it will likely have problems with its entire U.S. Amazon network by the end of 2024. locations, a sufficient number of workers to find, the document continues. Amazon responded to US media outlets such as Engadget with a statement that the leaked document had no real meaning because there were many internal drafts on numerous topics.

The paper is not an accurate analysis of the actual situation regarding employee availability at Amazon. There are no problems finding new employees in the regions mentioned. According to other statistics, Amazon struggles with the fact that many vacancies have to be filled at increasingly shorter intervals. The group has therefore long been investing in robots and other automation technology to reduce dependence on humans as employees. However, even Amazon cannot delegate more complex tasks to machines.