DAVENPORT, Iowa — On September 14, 2021, Amazon announced plans to hire 125,000 employees nationwide.
Amazon has plans to hire 1,000 workers for its huge new Davenport distribution center.
Amazon is working to develop its own supply chain, delivering its own goods, an estimated three and a half billion boxes in 2019 alone.
"We've been growing at Amazon, which is fun," Carletta Ooton, Amazon Vice President of Operations, said in an interview with WQAD on September 14, 2021.
And that growth includes here in north Davenport where a new distribution center is being built and a thousand new jobs is promised.
"These are great jobs, they're jobs that will average over $18 an hour. And some will go as high as $20 to $50 an hour on average," Ooton said.
But when will the construction crews be replaced with Quad City Amazon workers?
"The hiring process will begin next year in 2022. Late spring, early summer is when they will hire a local leader, site manager." said Tami Petsche, Vice President of Business and Economic Growth with the Quad Cities Chamber.
Under current plans, robotics and other equipment will go into the building early next summer.
The main hiring of the bulk of the workers will start in the summer of 2022.
The 250-million dollar, 640-thousand square foot building is scheduled to open in early fall, about a year from now.
"The majority of the positions are going to be the warehouse production, employment opportunity. But then also, there's approximately one to 200 administration type positions in the offices," Petsche said.
Amazon says it has added 250 new fulfillment centers, regional hubs, and delivery stations as the mega company starts taking over its own distribution.
Of the 125,000 new jobs, the company says 7,500 will be in Illinois alone.
"It really is centered on where our customers are, and where they need us to be to be able to meet the delivery promise to them," Ooton said.
Amazon has added more than 45,000 workers since the start of the pandemic. It now has almost a million employees in the United States.