Hardware Retailing The Industry's Source for Insights and Information
Online and big-box retailers have added another factor to the competition for workers: new and expanded warehouses that pay more than minimum wage for low-skilled jobs.
“Retailers and logistics companies have been opening warehouses at a record pace to ensure online orders reach customers as quickly as possible,” The Wall Street Journal reports. “Now they’re struggling to find workers to staff them.”
Amazon warehouses can employ 2,000 or more people, the article says.
“Booming sales mean e-commerce operations have to ship more items faster,” and warehouse pay is going up to match growing demand, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Businesses, such as retail stores, that typically don’t pay high wages may feel the sting of trying to compete for employees in markets where larger companies are offering higher pay to people who might have otherwise considered jobs in retail.
“But with the unemployment rate close to a 10-year low, competition for warehouse workers is fueling the biggest wage gains inside warehouses in at least a decade,” The Wall Street Journal article says.
