(ZEROHEDGE) – With millions of Americans still sitting on the sidelines of the labor market, Amazon and Wal-Mart are going head to head in a battle to recruit thousands of additional workers before the holidays. The competition for bodies has gotten so intense that Amazon recently recommended to the contractors who handle the last leg of package delivery (you know, the ones who drive around in those navy blue Amazon-branded trucks?) to stop screening potential drivers for marijuana.
Days after Wal-Mart revealed it would be scrapping its quarterly bonus program in favor of raising wages, Amazon has reportedly one-upped its chief rival by raising its average wage to $18 ahead of a hiring spree that could see it hire another 125K workers before the holidays, according to an exclusive from Reuters.
That $18 average has risen from $17 since May. In some locations, the company is giving signing bonuses of $3,000, said Dave Bozeman, vice president of Amazon Delivery Services – roughly triple what the company offered four months ago.
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