SEATTLE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Oct. 11, 2019– Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) today announced plans to open a fulfillment center in Channahon, Illinois, creating more than 500 new, full-time jobs starting at $15 an hour with comprehensive benefits starting on day one. Employees at the more than one million-square-foot fulfillment center will pick, pack and ship large customer items, such as sports equipment, patio furniture, fishing rods, pet food, kayaks, bicycles, and larger household goods. Amazon currently employs more than 11,000 full-time associates throughout the state of Illinois.
“Illinois is a great place to do business and we are excited to continue our growth and investment in the state with our new fulfillment center in Channahon,” said Alicia Boler Davis, Amazon’s Vice President of Global Customer Fulfillment. “Since 2010, Amazon has invested more than $4 billion in the state through its local fulfillment center and cloud infrastructure, research facilities, and compensation to thousands of employees in the state. We are excited to create more than 500 new full-time jobs, in addition to the 11,000 current employees across the state, who receive industry-leading pay and benefits starting on day one.”
“This significant jobs announcement is another sign that Illinois’ future is bright, and I’m excited to see Amazon build on its investment in Illinois with 500 new jobs in the south suburbs,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “Illinois is the transportation hub of the Midwest, and our workforce is among the best in the world. We welcome and celebrate this new fulfillment center and the economic growth it will create in these communities and in our state.”
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 percent 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, fulfillment centers, retails stores, and transportation network, or pursue career paths outside of Amazon. All associates will go through hours of safety training and have access to continuing education opportunities through Amazon’s upskilling programs such as Career Choice. In this program, 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, more than 25,000 employees have pursued degrees in game design and visual communications, nursing, IT programming and radiology, to name a few.
“We are pleased to join Amazon in announcing their new Channahon location. Amazon’s multi-million dollar investment in this new Channahon facility marks continued success in local economic development,” said Channahon Mayor Missey Moorman Schumacher. “Amazon will not only bring hundreds of new jobs to Channahon, but will also serve to diversify and stabilize the tax base for our residents, and trigger additional planned public infrastructure improvements benefitting the entire community. We welcome Amazon as a committed community partner and look forward to their investment and involvement in our Village and the region.”
Amazon’s fulfillment network supports millions of businesses of all sizes worldwide through its Fulfillment By Amazon offering, and many of those local organizations are based in Illinois. There are more than 73,000 authors, small and medium-sized businesses, and developers in Illinois growing their companies and reaching new customers on Amazon products and services.
The project is being developed by Venture One.
To learn more about working at an Amazon fulfillment center, visit www.amazondelivers.jobs.
About Amazon
Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNews.
