Amazon announced Monday that it will hire an additional 75,000 workers to handle rising demand driven by the spread of coronavirus.<\/p>\n
The online retail giant has already\u00a0hired 100,000 workers<\/a>\u00a0since the beginning of the pandemic as stay-at-home orders and empty shelves at grocery stores drive demand for deliveries.<\/p>\n The company has also\u00a0raised wages<\/a>\u00a0for hourly workers by $2 and\u00a0boosted overtime pay<\/a>.<\/p>\n “We know many people have been economically impacted as jobs in areas like hospitality, restaurants and travel are lost or furloughed as part of this crisis and we welcome anyone out of work to join us at Amazon until things return to normal and their past employer is able to bring them back,” Amazon\u00a0said in a blog post<\/a>.<\/p>\n Decision follows criticism:<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0However, several workers say the company has not done enough to keep them safe from COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus.<\/p>\n