“President Obama will deliver a speech on rebuilding middle-class American jobs today from an Amazon warehouse in Tennessee, but a look at the facts about employment at the giant internet retailer may work against the White House’s intended symbolism,” T.C. Sottek reports for The Verge.
“Amazon may be creating jobs — just yesterday it announced 5,000 new warehouse positions — but they’re not likely to be the coveted middle class jobs that Obama will call for in his speech today,” Sottek reports. “The positions range from about $11 to $13 an hour, and while Amazon compares them to retail jobs, they’re really warehouse jobs. Employees at Amazon’s fulfillment centers retrieve, package, and send out orders to Amazon’s online customers.”
Sottek reports, “‘The Amazon facility in Chattanooga is a perfect example of the company that is investing in American workers and creating good, high-wage jobs,’ deputy White House press secretary Amy Brundage told Fortune. ‘What the president wants to do is to highlight Amazon and the Chattanooga facility as an example of a company that is spurring job growth and keeping our country competitive.’ Unfortunately, that message doesn’t quite mesh with a company that, as Fortune notes, pays just a little above the federal poverty line for a family of four.”
Read more in the full article here.
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