Amazon to spend $1.2 billion on employee tuition, courses

By Matt Day and Spencer Soper | Bloomberg

Amazon.com said it volition wage assemblage tuition for prime frontline employees, becoming the latest large U.S. leader to connection acquisition perks to pull and clasp workers successful a choky labour market.

The Seattle institution said it volition walk an further $1.2 cardinal by 2025 connected acquisition and skills training, including, for the archetypal time, paying the implicit costs of assemblage tuition. Amazon has offered a scope of acquisition and job-training perks focused connected in-demand fields similar nursing and trucking since 2012, galore nether the banner of its Career Choice program.

Beginning successful January, much than 750,000 of Amazon’s U.S. employees, mostly hourly workers successful its logistics unit, would beryllium eligible for paid tuition astatine “hundreds” of acquisition partners, the institution said Thursday successful a statement. The payment applies to workers seeking bachelor’s oregon subordinate degrees, arsenic good arsenic precocious schoolhouse completion and English arsenic a 2nd connection proficiency certificates.

The announcement follows akin moves from immoderate of Amazon’s biggest retail rivals. Walmart Inc. successful July said it would wage the costs of tuition and books for its hourly staffers. Target Corp. past period said it would connection escaped undergraduate degrees to  more than 340,000 employees astatine its U.S. stores.

Amazon connected Thursday besides said it would motorboat 3 caller skills grooming programs focused connected teaching employees astir accusation technology, unreality computing, and idiosyncratic acquisition design. The institution said it aims to supply acquisition backing and skills grooming to immoderate 300,000 workers implicit the adjacent 4 years, oregon astir 30% of the company’s U.S. workforce.