Meet The Tens Of Thousands Of Americans Desperate For A Warehouse Job At Amazon

Today was Amazon Jobs Day, which the company said was “its biggest hiring event of the year” in which it would interview and hire 50,000 full-time and part-time employees in communities all around the country, mostly for vacant warehouse worker positions. The jobs fair is part of Amazon’s pledge to hire 130,000 workers by 2018.

Among the perks listed were the following: Full-time positions include medical benefits starting on day one and tuition pre-payment for high demand careers. Part-time positions include medical benefits that begin after 90 days and tuition pre-payment.

The company said it offers “competitive pay” for full-time workers as well as part-time workers. Wages for the advertised positions range from $11.50 an hour in Tennessee to $13.75 an hour near Amazon’s Seattle headquarters.

Amazon provided the following handy dress code tips for today’s interviews:

• Long hair must be pinned or tied up to a length that does not exceed the top of the shoulder. Beards may not exceed three inches from the face without being tied up or netted
• Extraneous articles hanging from clothing, such as chains or drawstrings, can cause a safety-risk and are prohibited
• We ask guests to wear flat, closed-toe and closed-heel shoes.
• Jewelry that dangles or protrudes from the body may come in contact with machinery and result in a safety hazard

In Robbinsville, New Jersey, Morgan Devries, 21, told NBC News she used to work in retail but is now applying for work at Amazon because the industry doesn’t pay well enough.  “I work at the airport and they are paying people $12 and under [per hour],” Clarence Williams told NBC News. “People cannot live on that type of wage! If you look at the long line, no one here is making good money.”

Some lucky candidates would be given job offers on the stop: they will pack or sort boxes.

Considering Amazon’s recent surge in employment, today’s countrywide job fair was not surprising.

What was surprising, however, are the long lines of thousands of unemployed people who showed up desperate for even a part-time job across the nation. And yes, as the gentleman says 55 seconds into the clip below, he is “desperate.”

Some more examples, from New Jersey:

Wow! Check out the line of people waiting to apply for #AmazonJobsDay! @News12NJ pic.twitter.com/L6FsrLwtrY

— Kristina Behr (@KristinaBehr) August 2, 2017

More Jersey:

Hundreds lined up outside the @amazon warehouse center in Robbinsville looking for work on Amazon Jobs Day @njdotcom pic.twitter.com/2MRD5KtcGH

— Avalon Zoppo (@AvalonZoppo) August 2, 2017

Baltimore:

Massachusetts:

Wisconsin:

Illinois:

Is this what a “full employment”, according to the Fed, economy looks like?