by Angela Nazworth | May 16, 2012 10:35 am
It appears as if Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN[1]) is attempting to single-handedly turn around the U.S. job market. The giant e-tailer’s payroll includes about 65,600 employees after adding nearly 28,000 positions in the past year, according to MarketWatch[2]. And Amazon isn’t stopping there.
On Monday, it announced its intentions to hire more than 1,000 new tech developers[3] for its Seattle offices. In its quest for the brightest tech minds, the company will face some competition from Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT[4]), which is looking for more than 1,500 workers[5] in the same field, for the same geographic location.
Amazon is also seeking employees for many of its other offices around the globe. A quick search on the career section of its website brings up more than 200 pages of job listings. However, it’s not apparent how many of Amazon’s employees hold full-time jobs with the company.
Analysts aren’t sure if Amazon’s rapid hiring pace — which has been steadily rising over the past few years — is good or bad. It could mean it’s making a responsible move by preparing for growth. Or it could be a sign of recklessness that will end up hurting its already thin profit margins.
“Amazon without question has been getting a pass in terms of some of their costs and some of their investments, at least to date,” Dan Geiman, an analyst for McAdams Wright Ragen told The Wall Street Journal[6]. “They’re obviously just moving in every direction.”
Amazon addressed some of the concerns about its hiring practices during an April conference call with analysts, reported WSJ. “We’ll moderate it at some point,” Chief Financial Officer Tom Szkutak said. He then added: “given the growth that we’re experiencing right now, we are investing and we’re making sure we have the right resources.”
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