Photo from THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan HaywardBy Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla
There was huge news coming out of Vancouver yesterday as Amazon announced it is opening a new office that will employ 3,000 Canadians bringing Amazon's Canadian workforce to over 9,000 by 2020.
This is a huge vote of confidence in Canada and the Vancouver area. Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, welcomed Amazon’s announcement that it will create 3,000 new jobs in Vancouver. Combined with the 1,000 new jobs announced by Amazon in November 2017.
Amazon, which is based out of Seattle, Washington, a neighbour to Vancouver with similar climate, is the third most valuable company with a market capitalization to $702.46 billion. By extension, Amazon CEO and Founder Jeff Bezos is the wealthiest man in the world, with a personal worth of $105 billion.
Amazon's presence in Canada can hopefully serve as a beacon to other innovative companies to consider setting up satellite offices north of the border.
“Today’s announcement is a testament to Canada’s highly-skilled, diverse workforce and tremendous potential as an innovation and tech hub. Tech talent and investment are coming to our country in record numbers, and companies like Amazon are bringing even more energy, vision – and thousands of good jobs – to Canada," Trudeau announced.
This new Vancouver facility is separate from the much publicized Amazon HQ2, which is a multi-billion dollar facility and second headquarters for the online retailer. HQ2 is estimated to be a $5 billion investment and will create around 50,000 jobs. To date, Toronto is the only Canadian city in the running alongside heavy hitters like L.A., New York, Atlanta and Philadelphia. The original list was whittled down from 238 to 20 cities.
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Candidates interested in applying for open roles at Amazon’s Vancouver Tech Hub can do so here.