Amazon demonstrates its confidence in Ohio with new investment
Amazon has announced plans to open two new Ohio fulfilment centres, one in Akron and the other in Rossford, creating more than 2,500 full-time jobs.
“Ohio has been a great place to do business, serve customers and create jobs; as a result, we are thrilled to develop two state-of-the-art fulfilment centres in Akron and Rossford,” said Alicia Boler Davis, Amazon’s Vice President of Global Customer Fulfilment. “We’re excited to grow our team in the Buckeye state, which now includes more than 8,500 Amazonians, and be part of the larger Ohio community.”
“Amazon continues to demonstrate confidence in the great workforce and e-commerce business climate we have in Ohio,” said Ohio Governor Mike DeWine. “I’m pleased to welcome two additional investments from Amazon, which bring thousands of new jobs to Ohio and cutting-edge facilities to Akron and Rossford.”
Each fulfilment centre is more than 700,000 square feet and will be used to pick, pack and ship small items to customers such as books, electronics and toys. All associates will go through hours of safety training and ongoing coaching and will have access to continuing education opportunities through Amazon’s upskilling programs such as Career Choice in which the company will pre-pay up to 95 percent of tuition for courses related to in-demand fields, regardless of whether the skills are relevant to a career at Amazon. Since the program’s launch, over 25,000 employees have pursued degrees in game design and visual communications, nursing, IT programming and radiology, to name a few.
On top of Amazon’s $15 minimum wage, the company offers full-time employees comprehensive benefits including full medical, vision, and dental insurance as well as a 401(k) with 50% match starting on day one. The company also offers up to 20 weeks of maternal and parental paid leave and innovative benefits such as Leave Share and Ramp Back, which give new parents flexibility with their growing families. In addition, Amazon has pledged to invest over $700 million to provide upskilling training for 100,000 U.S. employees for in demand jobs. Programs will help Amazonians from all backgrounds access training to move into highly skilled roles across the company’s corporate offices, tech hubs, fulfilment centres, retails stores, and transportation network, or pursue career paths outside of Amazon.
“Rossford is home to an increasingly diverse business community, we are thrilled that Amazon will be joining those ranks by locating its new fulfilment centre here,” said Rossford Mayor Neil A. MacKinnon III. ”We welcome Amazonas our new neighbour and look forward to the job creation Amazon will bring for members of our community and the surrounding areas.”
Since 2010, Amazon has invested more than $5 billion in the state through its customer fulfilment and cloud infrastructure, and compensation to its employees. Using methodology developed by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Amazon estimates its investments in the state have created an additional 19,000 indirect jobs on top of the company’s direct hires.
