E-tailer bucks UK labour market gloom with hiring plan of 7,000 new jobs

Last month the number of people in work in Britain suffered the biggest drop since 2009 and the coronavirus is expected to take a much heavier toll on unemployment when the government winds down its huge job-protection scheme. The one bright spot however has come from online retail and logistics as orders surged during lockdown. Amazon’s latest recruitment will take its total UK workforce to over 40,000 by the end of the year. The US internet giant said the new roles will be for warehouse workers, as well as engineers, HR and IT professionals and health and safety and finance specialists. The jobs will be in over 50 sites, including two new distribution centres in the north east and central England and at corporate offices.