Annual worker turnover at Amazon warehouses in New Jersey is approximately 124 percent, almost double the rate of turnover at non-Amazon warehouses in the state.
Key Findings
NELP analyzed publicly available Census Bureau and Occupational Safety and Health Administration data for New Jersey. Here are the key findings:
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High churn.
We estimate Amazon’s turnover rate by calculating the average turnover rate for warehouse workers in the five counties where Amazon employs approximately 50 percent or more of the county’s warehouse workforce.[1] These counties are Burlington, Bergen, Gloucester, Mercer, and Middlesex. These are also the counties hosting Amazon’s 10 largest warehouses in New Jersey.[2] The average turnover rate for warehouse workers in these counties was 124 percent in 2020, the latest year for which data are available (see Table 1).[3] That rate means that for every warehouse job in those counties, more than one worker is let go or quits each year. The 124 percent average turnover rate is roughly the equivalent of replacing the entire workforce every 10 months or losing more than two percent of the workforce every week. It is also almost double the turnover rate for warehouse workers in New Jersey counties without any Amazon facilities (72 percent).[4]
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Low annual hours per employee.
At Amazon’s New Jersey warehouses, the number of hours worked per employee per year was 1,669 hours on average in 2021 and 1,458 hours on average in 2020.[5] By comparison, a full-time employee working a full year (40 hours a week for 50 weeks) would work 2,000 hours. The lower number of hours at Amazon warehouses suggests a prevalence of both short-term and part-time work arrangements.[6] Amazon does not provide health insurance benefits for short-term workers and provides limited benefits for certain part-time workers.[7]
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Endnotes
[1] Comparing self-reported annual employment figures from Amazon from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) Injury Tracking Application and total annual warehouse employment by county from the Census Bureau’s Quarterly Workforce Indicators, we estimate that Amazon represents approximately 63 percent of annual average warehouse employment in Burlington, Bergen, Gloucester, Mercer, and Middlesex counties. Amazon’s facilities in these counties represent approximately 72 percent of Amazon’s total annual employment in New Jersey.
[2] The Amazon facilities included in the analysis (operating in Burlington, Bergen, Gloucester, Mercer, and Middlesex counties in 2020) are the following: EWR4, LGA9, ACY1, EWR9, ABE8, EWR5, EWR8, SPNE5, ACY2, CDW5. These warehouses and their opening dates are available here: https://www.mwpvl.com/html/amazon_com.html
[3] NELP analyzed data from the Census Bureau’s Quarterly Workforce Indicators. Annual turnover is defined as total annual separations divided by average annual employment, following the method used by the Society of Human Resource Professionals available here: https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/tools-and-samples/how-to-guides/pages/determineturnoverrate.aspx.
[4] NELP analysis of data from the Census Bureau’s Quarterly Workforce Indicators
[5] NELP analysis of establishment-specific data from OSHA Injury Tracking Application
[6] “Amazon is hiring for 150,000 seasonal jobs across the U.S.,” Amazon News, 2021 https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/operations/amazon-is-hiring-for-150-000-seasonal-jobs-across-the-u-s
[7] “Benefits Overview,” Amazon Jobs, https://www.amazon.jobs/en/landing_pages/benefitsoverview-us
