Amazon’s second headquarters, based in Arlington, has hired 600 workers and it plans to hire about 1,000 more by the end of the calendar year, the Washington Business Journal reported.
As part of its deal with the Commonwealth of Virginia, Amazon must hire at least 25,000 workers to receive its full amount of subsidies. The company intends to reach this number by 2030 and continue to grow by thousands of workers in the immediate years after. The average salary for jobs at the headquarters is expected to be higher than $150,000 annually.
The current job listing on Amazon’s website includes 500 jobs that are open in the Arlington area.
The Commonwealth of Virginia and the County of Arlington will provide Amazon with $550 million in performance-based tax subsidies over the next decade. The deal also will require the company to fund nearly $300 million in infrastructure improvements in the region, which mostly will go toward improving transportation projects to mitigate the larger number of commuters expected with the new headquarters.
Amazon is expected to invest about $2.5 billion in the new headquarters.
Housing prices have increased at a greater rate than expected as a result of the Amazon announcement. Over the past year, the average cost of a house in the region rose to $642,565, which is almost a 14 percent increase.
In response to rising housing costs, local governments are funding additional measures for affordable housing. Amazon is contributing funds to affordable housing programs.
