Amazon will hold job fairs Tuesday and Thursday to begin hiring for 1,500 jobs at its new, $180 million warehouse in Troutdale.
The 855,000-square-foot facility is a way station for laundry detergent, toothpaste, rice, home electronics and other products en route to Amazon customers across the region. Amazon says the warehouse will hold "tens of millions of items" at any given time when it opens this fall.
Amazon says it will pay up to $14 an hour for the jobs, which works out to about $29,000 annually. Additionally, the company offers benefits including health insurance, bonuses, retirement savings, 20 weeks of paid parental leave and Amazon stock.
The company won $9.6 million in tax breaks from Troutdale to finance the project. As a condition of those incentives, the company agreed to pay employees at least $15 an hour in total compensation, including the value of health insurance and other benefits.
Amazon will be hiring into an especially competitive local job market amid record low unemployment.
Tuesday's job fair continues until 5 p.m. at the WorkSource office at 19421 S.E. Stark St. in Gresham. Amazon will host another hiring event from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday at the Holiday Inn at 477 N.W. Phoenix Drive in Troutdale.
Applicants may also apply at www.amazon.com/portlandjobs.
Amazon is expanding distribution facilities across the country to speed delivery times. It has a package sorting facility in Hillsboro and will open distribution facilities in North Portland and Salem this year. Additionally, the company employs hundreds at its AWS Elemental subsidiary in downtown Portland.
-- Mike Rogoway