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Amazon has announced that it will create 100,000 new full-time jobs in the U.S. over the next 18 months, mostly in warehouses (fulfillment centers) and call centers. Many of the jobs will be added in Texas, California, Florida, New Jersey, among other states:
Amazon has quickly ramped up its workforce over the last few years, as it pushes to open up more fulfillment centers to get packages out to its customers more quickly. In 2011, Amazon had 30,000 full-time employees in the U.S. At the end of last year, it employed 180,000 people. [...] Amazon has seen "tremendous" demand for their retail service as well as a fast-growing cloud business, says Edward Jones analyst Josh Olson on why Amazon is hungry for more workers. Amazon is increasingly emphasizing convenience of its retail service, such as Same-Day Delivery options, as its edge on pricing dulls with the introduction of state sales taxes.
President-elect Trump's incoming press secretary Sean Spicer helped his boss to take credit for the news:
"The president-elect met with heads of several of the tech companies and urged them to keep their jobs and production inside the United States," spokesman Sean Spicer said in his opening remarks in a press call on Thursday.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by BenJeremy on Friday January 13 2017, @03:01PM
My family was middle class, my Dad worked in the auto shops until he retired. Henry Ford helped launch the middle class, which is not the same as the merchant class (SMB owners). Small businesses are not typically places where you get healthy wages or benefits (indeed, many are family-run). Mid- to Large-sized businesses employ the middle class population.
Reagan, like his predecessor, Carter, was naive (just in wildly different ways) - "trickle down" only works when business leaders are willing to let something actually trickle down. The period following Reagan's presidency might have been far worse, economically (and was bad under Bush1) had it not been for the internet and the emergence of a new pool of "resources" (in this case, not oil or gold, but digital innovation, as corny as that sounds) to stimulate the economy. The flood of positive economic fortunes makes it hard to judge the Clinton era one way or another.
So I would argue that big corporations have gone a LONG way to destroy the middle class. I've seen it... the Big Three have shut down lots of plants employing middle class workers, and in the few cases where the plant's work has been shifted to a second or even third tier vendor, the jobs that returned were minimum wage jobs with bare benefits.
Reagan's naivety (keeping in mind I voted for the guy) failed to account for the fact that given enough slack, many (if not most) corporate boards will do exactly the worse thing for the US and for its people if there is any sort of profit to be had. This has a collective effect on the national and even global economy. Worse, big businesses have grown and pushed out all of your small to medium businesses when they could; they are no longer effective in their own right.
Somewhere, we need proper balance, because time and time again, without checks in place, big business will always tilt the wrong way in the worst way.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday January 13 2017, @04:11PM
Small businesses are owned by the middle class and also employ the middle class in skilled trades. Mid-sized businesses employ the middle class. Large businesses have never employed the majority of the middle class in our entire national history. Why people keep looking to them for salvation one moment and cursing them the next is entirely beyond me.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by deimtee on Saturday January 14 2017, @01:13AM
The term middle-class is suffering from a drift in meaning.
Way back it meant significantly above the working class, generally professionals - doctors, lawyers, architects, SMB owners, etc. They would have significant assets, and probably be socially known to the local level upper class.
That was when one reasonable working class job could support a family.
A middle-class family might not be driving a Rolls each, but they weren't slumming it in an old pick-up either.
Now, middle class has been devalued to basically anyone who can support themselves (and family) working only one job per adult.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday January 14 2017, @01:49AM
I dunno about you but I still don't consider someone middle class unless they can support a household on one income and have disposable income enough to put some back. They don't necessarily have to be doing so but they should be able to if necessary.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.