Amazon could run out of US warehouse workers within two years

This is how supply chains eat themselves. A leaked internal memo from Amazon, obtained by Vox, shows that such is the extraordinarily high rate of staff turnover, that in some regions Amazon is likely to run its potential labour pool dry within a couple of years. Indeed, in places such as Phoenix and California’s Inland Empire, the tipping point may already have been reached.

The company’s combative approach to its relationship with its workforce is one issue, as are structural labour shortages, but Amazon is also losing staff to rival retailers and logistics providers offering better terms. “Amazon’s attrition rates were 123% in 2019 before jumping to 159% in 2020, according to internal data in the report Recode obtained, while turnover rates across the US transport and warehouse sectors were much lower – 46% and 59%, respectively, in 2019 and 2020, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates.”