Hundreds lined up Wednesday outside Amazon’s fulfillment center in Robbinsville for a chance to land one of 50,000 positions that the online retail giant is looking to fill.
The Robbinsville warehouse was one of 10 warehouses include in Amazon’s nationwide job fair, offering some jobs on the spot.
“We figured, why not make it really fun and host an event and offer candidates the opportunity to tour our fulfillment centers? Today is going to be a lot of fun,” Amazon spokeswoman Nina Lindsey said.
Nearly 40,000 of the 50,000 packing, sorting and shipping jobs are full time. Most of them will count toward Amazon's previously announced goal of adding 100,000 full-time workers by the middle of next year.
Amazon believes that its benefits, including medical, stock options and education opportunities, were a large incentive for applicants.
“I already have a job. But, just the benefits, you can't beat it here. So I'm going to give it a try,” said applicant Mary Marinos, of Hamilton.
One labor expert, Anthony Carnevale at Georgetown University, says more people are likely to lose jobs in brick-and-mortar stores than get jobs in Amazon warehouses. But he says Amazon's warehouse jobs provide good wages and could help build skills.
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The Associated Press news wire services contributed to this report.