Amazon to fully fund college tuition for frontline employees

(Reuters) – Amazon.com Inc will fully fund college tuition for over 750,000 of its frontline employees, the e-commerce giant said on Thursday, stepping up its efforts to attract and retain workers in a tight domestic labor market.

It plans to spend about $1.2 billion in the next four years on its U.S employees, funding full college tuition and high school diplomas, including English proficiency certifications as well as upskilling programs, it said in a blogpost here.

The move would help Amazon attract talent and beef up its delivery network and fulfillment center staff, at a time when labor shortages have left companies scrambling to fill vacancies and balance remote and in-office work in a reopening economy.

Amazon said it had seen a surge in applications to participate in education programs since the start of the pandemic, as employees looked to upskill. It offers various upskilling programs including in Amazon Web Services, its cloud computing unit that saw demand shoot up thanks to remote work.

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