Skip to main content

Of Wages And Warehouses

(Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Enlarge Icon
Getty Images

Warehouses are expected to hire 450 thousand people this year and next year — an even faster pace of growth than the rest of the labor market. These jobs share some elements with the manufacturing jobs of the past. You can get a job in a warehouse without a college degree, and the pay is better than service jobs that also don't require higher education.

On the other hand, warehouses also hire a lot of temp workers — and the temporary nature of their jobs means the pay is inconsistent, while also making it harder for workers to protest their working conditions.

On the show today, Sophia Paliza-Carre of the Latino USA podcast, who has just spend time reporting on warehouse work, takes us inside an Amazon warehouse to explain the kinds of jobs done there and shares with us the results of her reporting.

You can find Sophia's original story here.

Music by Drop Electric. Find us: Twitter/ Facebook.

Subscribe to our show on Apple Podcasts, PocketCasts and NPR One. [Copyright 2018 NPR]

Why you can trust KUOW