Amazon will raise the minimum starting wage for its full-time U.S. warehouse workers to $20 per hour on Sept. 27. The increase lands as the company continues shifting jobs and office space from Seattle to Bellevue.
The $1-per-hour raise lifts average pay for workers who sort, pack and ship orders to nearly $24 per hour, according to MyNorthwest. Amazon called it a more than $1.5 billion investment nationwide.
Udit Madan, Amazon's senior vice president of worldwide operations, detailed the changes in an Amazon blog post on Wednesday, Sept. 16.
Including benefits, average total compensation tops $32 per hour, Amazon said. The company also has an annual step plan that increases pay during an employee's first three years.
Two other perks start Oct. 1: a 20% discount on in-store purchases at Whole Foods Market and 10% off eligible groceries on Amazon.com, plus a banking benefit called "Day 1 Financial."
The program, a partnership with First Tech Federal Credit Union, gives qualified employees and their families a lifetime credit-union membership with no overdraft fees, no monthly maintenance fees and no account minimums.
Amazon's Eastside footprint
The wage news arrives as Amazon's Eastside presence continues to expand. The company's Bellevue workforce has grown from about 2,790 to roughly 14,300 in recent years, according to the Downtown Bellevue Network. Amazon has said it expects to eventually employ about 25,000 people in the city.
Construction plans reinforce that trajectory. Amazon filed permits in January to restart work on Tower 1 at Bellevue 600, the remaining West Main towers and the 25-story Artise tower, the Downtown Bellevue Network reported.
Amazon's Seattle footprint is shrinking. The company's headcount there has fallen from a peak of 60,000 in 2020 to about 49,000, and it has given up more than 1 million square feet of Seattle office space in that span, KUOW reported in February. Amazon now refers to the broader Puget Sound region as HQ1.
"Amazon is not investing and growing in the downtown anymore. They're just not that interested," KIRO Newsradio host Jake Skorheim said on Sept. 15, after Amazon was absent from a 35-business coalition letter calling for a public safety overhaul from Seattle City Hall. "They're investing in Bellevue, in the Eastside."
Costco raised its entry-level minimum to $20 per hour last year. Walmart has also increased starting wages for store and warehouse workers multiple times. Amazon hired 250,000 workers ahead of last year's holiday season.
Amazon's latest layoff notice, filed Aug. 31, covers 121 positions in Bellevue, Seattle and Sumner, with separations expected to begin Oct. 1.
