Investing, creating jobs, and contributing to the American economy

Amazon is a leading investor and job creating company in the U.S. We know that our size and scale bring broader responsibility—and that our investments can unlock opportunity. When we open a fulfillment center, delivery station, data center, or corporate office somewhere in the U.S., we help revitalize cities and neighborhoods. We also provide good local jobs with great benefits for hundreds of thousands of Americans looking to build their careers.

We have a long track-record of investing and creating jobs in the U.S., and we doubled-down following the unprecedented circumstances of 2020. COVID-19 led to a shift in the ways American families shopped for essential items, small business owners reached their customers, and many companies scaled their cloud infrastructure to keep up with demand and allow their employees to work remotely.

We had to rise to the challenge—not only to continue delivering for customers, but also to renew our commitment to the American economy. We know that when large companies like Amazon invest in America, the positive ripple effects are seen across industries, from construction to healthcare to logistics.

I’ve seen this first hand many times. One of my first projects at Amazon was a fulfillment center in Wayne County, Michigan. In 2016, we explained to a skeptical crowd the benefits, job opportunities, and economic growth our investments would bring to the community. Amazon has now invested more $2.9 billion in Wayne County and, as a result, contributed an additional $2.5 billion to the local economy. We now employ more than 11,000 people directly in the county and estimate that our investments support an additional 10,000 jobs in the area on top of our direct hires.

Stories like this happen across the country. We’ve looked at a decade of Amazon investment in the U.S., and here are some highlights:

Last year, Amazon invested more than $167 billion in the U.S. on infrastructure and compensation to our employees to help meet the demand of customers living under stay-at-home orders. This is the biggest investment in Amazon’s history.

Since the start of 2020, the investments we made in fulfillment centers, delivery stations, physical retail locations, and more led to the creation of more than 400,000 jobs in the U.S., bringing our total employment to more than 950,000 people. Each of those jobs come with a starting wage of at least $15 per hour—double the federal minimum wage—with all regular full-time employees receiving access to healthcare, a 401(k) retirement savings plan, paid parental leave, and company-funded skills training programs, among other benefits..

A recent study from the Progressive Policy Institute listed Amazon as the No. 1 investor among non-financial companies in the U.S. in 2020, with more than double the investment from the second-ranked company. The study found that in addition to fueling job creation, Amazon’s investments helped fight inflation by increasing supply.

Amazon was one the fastest job creating companies in the U.S. in 2020—no other company has created more jobs than Amazon in the past decade. Last year alone, we created an average of 1,000 jobs per day in the U.S.

While some people have returned to their pre-pandemic jobs, many have stayed on at Amazon. We surveyed all of our 2020 new hires across our operations network, and 60% of respondents told us that they are now making more money at Amazon than with their previous employers.

Investing in the U.S.

Since 2010, Amazon has invested over $750 billion in the U.S., including infrastructure and compensation to our employees-$210 billion in 2021 alone.

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Since 2010, Amazon has paid more than $160 billion to our U.S. employees in compensation. Our $15 an hour starting wage has encouraged other employers to raise the salaries for their employees, in addition to putting more money in the pockets of hundreds of thousands of American families. In addition to compensation, we also continue to invest in benefits for our employees, including access to healthcare, 401(k) retirement saving plan, paid parental leave, and company-funded upskilling opportunities and career training programs that will help employees transition into in-demand, higher-paying jobs.

This, in turn, means more economic activity in the communities where we operate, as our employees spend their salaries at local businesses like restaurants and hair salons. Employees also have job security, helping them put a down payment on a house or buy a new car. As a result, all of these local businesses hire more people to manage the increase in demand.

Amazon often acts as a catalyst for growth and job creation when we start investing in a community. An analysis by Keystone Strategy using input-output methodology and multipliers supplied by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, estimates that our investments support more than 1.6 million indirect jobs. These jobs are in addition to our direct hires and span across industries including construction, logistics, retail, healthcare, and food services.

Since 2010, we’ve invested $530 billion in the U.S. The impact of these investments has contributed an additional $499 billion to the U.S. GDP. But we look more closely at how these investments contribute to local economies—like in Travis County, Texas, where our investments have contributed $3.7 billion in GDP-effects since 2010. Those numbers show us the importance of our investments to communities and cities across the country.

To deliver for our customers, we need to invest where they are. This means that our spending is not concentrated in a few cities where we hire engineers or employees with advanced degrees. We have invested in more than 450 counties across the U.S. and created career opportunities for people of all backgrounds and level of experience, from our new headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, to one of our latest fulfillment centers in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Over the last decade, 15 states have received more than $10 billion of Amazon investment each, and in 2020 Amazon invested in more than 40 states across the country.

We are committed to doing better every day for the communities in which we operate, the planet, and future generations. In 2020, we invested in more than 20 new wind and solar facilities across the U.S. in support of our commitment to reach 100% renewable energy by 2025, five years ahead of our original target. We also became the world’s largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy and reached 65% renewable energy across our businesses.

As we continue to invest in America, we know that our scale brings with it the opportunity to help invest in solutions that can have both immediate and long term impact on the communities in which we operate. This year, we announced the creation of the Housing Equity Fund, which is providing more than $2 billion in below-market loans and grants to preserve and create more than 20,000 affordable homes for individuals and families earning moderate to low incomes in our hometown communities.

We’ve also created the Amazon Future Engineer program, a comprehensive childhood-to-career program aimed at increasing access to computer science education for children and young adults from underserved and historically underrepresented communities. There are thousands of schools all across the country participating in the program that will help unlock opportunity and future career pathways. We’ve continued to partner and donate our transportation services to food banks and community organizations across the U.S. to deliver millions of meals directly to the doorsteps of vulnerable families and children.

Our commitment to the American economy is long term and we will continue to invest in creating good, safe, and well-paying jobs across the country. It not only allows us to continue delivering for customers—it’s the right thing to do.