Amazon says it is hiring for 4,400 new jobs in Maryland

As part of a nationwide move to hire 100,000 people for full and part-time roles in fulfillment and logistics, Amazon said this week that it is posting 4,400 new openings for jobs in Maryland.

Many of the positions will be in the ecommerce company’s two Sparrows Point fulfillment centers. Amazon opened its first hub at the former steel mill site now known as Tradepoint Atlantic in 2019, followed by a second facility last month that initially employed 500 people.

Amazon also has plans to launch new delivery stations in Waldorf and Upper Marlboro, per a spokesperson.

The company said it already employs 17,500 people in the state. The timing of the latest push brings to mind how this new hiring move could affect the state’s overall jobs picture in the midst of the pandemic-caused downturn. As of July 2020, the unemployment rate in Maryland was 7.7%. In Baltimore County it was 7.8%, according to the Maryland Department of Labor. So the new jobs coming to Sparrows Point could aid the 35,698 people unemployed in Baltimore County.

Baltimore city’s unemployment rate stood at 10% as of July. There are also jobs opening up in Amazon’s Baltimore city facilities, suggesting this could be a contributor to bringing the city’s unemployment rate to the single digits like the rest of Maryland.

Amazon also said last week that it has 33K job openings nationwide for corporate and tech roles. For info on all of its job openings, the company is holding a virtual career day on Wednesday, September 16.

Donte Kirby is a 2020-2022 corps member for Report for America, an initiative of The Groundtruth Project that pairs young journalists with local newsrooms. This position is supported by the Robert W. Deutsch Foundation.