Amazon hikes starting pay to $18 an hour as it hires for 125,000 more logistics jobs

Amazon.com Inc has increased its average starting wage in the United States to more than $18 an hour and plans to hire another 125,000 warehouse and transportation workers, an executive told Reuters.

The world’s largest online retailer has raised pay from around $17 since May. In some locations, the company is giving signing bonuses of $3,000, said Dave Bozeman, vice president of Amazon Delivery Services, or triple what the company offered four months ago. The fatter paycheck shows how big employers are desperate to draw workers in an increasingly tight U.S. labor market. Fewer Americans are seeking jobless claims just as openings have hit a record in the reopening economy.