Amazon’s new HQs will only be half-tech when it comes to jobs
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Michelle Clancy
| 23 November 2018

Amazon is growing, and expects to grow more thanks to its increasing focus on online video and other ancillary businesses yet even as it announces an expansion, the company has confirmed that only half of the new jobs will be in tech.

The eCommerce behemoth recently made a splashy announcement last week that it has selected Long Island City in Queens N.Y. and Northern Virginia to expand its operations with two additional headquarter installations.

This came as good news for New York City officials in particular, who came under fire after the announcement by neighbourhood advocates. They argued that giving Amazon $3 billion in tax incentives to bring the HQ in would be in exchange for driving out blue-collar workers from the traditionally industrial LIC neighbourhood. The deal should require the giant to embrace economic diversity, according to critics, who painted a picture of a mini-San Francisco, with the attendant high cost of living, springing up in Queens.

However, Eleni Bourinaris-Suarez, vice president of government and community relations at the city’s Economic Development Corporation, said this week that half of the expected 25,000 jobs created in LIC would be “administrative jobs, custodial staff, HR, all those things.” Officials expect that the average annual salary across all job segments would be $150,000, indicating plans for a wide range of salary levels.

Virginia officials said they expect the same to be true for the 25,000 jobs it’s expecting to create in Crystal City, in an area outside of Washington D.C. However, there the assessment is slightly different: Stephen Moret, president and CEO of the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, said many would be “typical HQ jobs,” which tend to be high-paying and require significant skills, in finance, legal, marketing and accounting.

Regardless of salary levels, it’s clear that Amazon’s interest in the areas will change the landscape. During the November 11 weekend, right after LIC was announced as a HQ pick following a 14-month nationwide review, the real estate market in the neighbourhood showed signs of change. The New York Times reported that open-house traffic there spiked 400% and 250%.

“It’s a feeding frenzy, and I’ve never seen it like this,” Brian Dusseau, a real-estate agent who has worked in the neighbourhood since 2002, told the paper.

The expansions, regardless of local effect, will be key to Amazon as it continues to diversify its business. That effort is ongoing: This week for instance Amazon emerged as a potential bidder as a potential bidder for the 22 Fox regional sports networks (RSNs) that Disney must divest as a condition of its $71 billion acquisition of 21st Century Fox’s media assets. If it’s successful, it would enter the traditional TV broadcast arena for the first time, marking a serious departure from its digital roots.