Elain Brown Tech 06.18.2022 00:Jun AM EDT

Will Amazon Run Out of Workers by 2024? A Leaked Memo Shows the Company Thinks So

Amazon's internal memo has been leaked publicly.

This recently discovered document from around that time period provides an in-depth look at Amazon's awareness of its own labor challenges and how the company can overcome them in the future.

An internal memo from the previous year that was obtained by Recode warns that Amazon is going to have to take some action in order to prevent the possibility of running out of workers. It seems as though the document that was obtained was an attempt to wake people up.

Amazon's Internal Memo

By the year 2024, it is likely that Amazon will have exhausted all of the potential labor for its warehouses in the United States.

The memo included findings from internal research conducted in 2021 that forecasted an impending labor issue for the e-commerce behemoth, with certain regions experiencing it more quickly than others. It was anticipated that Amazon would run out of available workers in Phoenix, Arizona by the end of 2021 and in the Inland Empire of California by the end of 2022.

It figured out how many workers were available by looking at a number of factors, such as the worker's income and how far away their home was from any existing or planned Amazon facilities.

Amazon was recommended in the study to take action to solve the impending labor gap by taking measures such as raising wages to keep the personnel it already has and to attract more people to work for the company. These methods also include increasing reliance on robots.

According to Business Insider, the memo suggests that Amazon could fix the issue by using six different methods for its warehouse workers. These methods include increasing wages or increasing reliance on robots. However, the problem is reportedly starting to creep up on Amazon pretty quickly, especially in certain areas of the country.

These areas include Phoenix, as well as the towns and cities in and around Memphis, Tennessee, and Wilmington, Delaware.

Rena Lunak, Amazon's director of global operations and field communications, told Engadget in a statement that the memo that was accidentally published is not an accurate reflection of the company's current employment climate.

She stated, "There are many draft documents written on many subjects across the company that are used to test assumptions and look at different possible scenarios, but aren't then escalated or used to make decisions. This was one of them."

Lunak also clarified, stating, "It doesn't represent the actual situation, and we are continuing to hire well in Phoenix, the Inland Empire, and across the country."

Amazon's Labor Crisis

As previously reported by iTechPost, Amazon has increased its efforts to retain and recruit new employees. As a result of that, a few months ago, Amazon increased the maximum base salary compensation that it offers to its white-collar employees in order to compete with the extremely competitive labor market and the large number of resignations that have occurred as a result of the pandemic.

The level of rivalry among employers for available workers is currently at an all-time high. Employees have had a greater amount of leverage to demand higher benefits and wages in their places of employment.

Because of this, Amazon and other tech companies have admitted that not being able to offer these benefits could hurt their ability to hire and keep skilled workers.

Amazon has announced that they will be increasing overall compensation ranges for the vast majority of employees located all over the world. These increases are much bigger than what the company has done in the past in terms of compensation range adjustments.