Cloud Computing: Amazon.com To Hire 70,000 In Fourth Quarter

Grazed from InformationWeek. Author: Charles Babcock.

With its online retail business growing, Amazon.com will hire 70,000 seasonal workers in the fourth quarter to help it fulfill holiday orders, an increase of 40% or 20,000 workers over last year. The announcement comes as something of a jolt. How can hiring on such a massive scale be going on in a limping economy? The federal government is laying off two-thirds of its employees due to the stand-off over funding bills in Congress. Will your former IRS auditor be fulfilling your holiday purchases this year?

Amazon.com said in its announcement today that last year, it converted 7,000 of these seasonal workers or 14% into full-time jobs after the holiday season was over. If that ratio holds, it would mean 9,800 of this year’s 70,000 would end up in permanent jobs. Furthermore, an Amazon.com spokesman hastened to add that the seasonal workers are hired into temporary but full-time jobs, earning 94% of the starting pay of regular workers at its chain of fulfillment centers. They also receive health benefits…

At the same time, Amazon.com is looking for a little good news ahead of its earnings announcement. Consensus opinion on Wall Street is that the company will post a $.09 loss per share, a continuation of a string of losing quarters. Losses haven’t hurt the stock price, which was trading at $318.64 an hour before the close, up $6 from the previous day’s close…

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