Amazon plans Tri-Cities hiring spree. Are there enough workers to fill all those jobs?

Amazon’s announcement about setting up shop in the Tri-Cities and hiring 1,500 next year already has local businesses leaders brainstorming where to find those workers.

Last week, the world’s largest online retailer announced it will build a huge distribution center in east Pasco.

It’s two Pasco warehouses will each have 1 million square feet and need 750 workers to distribute everything from household items, books, toys and technology to furniture and outdoor equipment.

Amazon isn’t hiring yet for those jobs, giving local leaders time to join Amazon in bringing in employees but it’s already expected to prove challenging.

“The next step in the process is when they really start doing job recruitment,” Mike Gonzalez, Pasco’s economic development manager said in a Tri-Cities Development Council broadcast. “That is going to be a challenge especially in this environment — there’s a lot of jobs to fill.”

The warehouses in east Pasco are costing about $200 million and will be among the largest in North America when finished next fall.

Darigold also announced this summer it will be hiring 200 permanent positions for its new $500 million processing plant being built in Pasco’s Reimann Industrial Center.

“Are we going to have the workforce in place?” Gonzalez asked during the “Coffee with Karl” discussion with Karl Dye, the director of TRIDEC.

Already restaurants, stores and businesses throughout the Mid-Columbia are struggling to hire enough employees to stay open their full hours.

Some Tri-Cities restaurant owners have offered $300 signing bonuses to get cooks to stay three months, and still didn’t receive job applications.

And Amazon could make hiring even more daunting for some.

The e-commerce giant is offering a $3,000 sign-on bonus for new hires in Spokane Valley hired for certain shifts and jobs by an Oct. 10 deadline.

All the Amazon jobs in Tri-Cities will be full time, the company said, and will start at $18 an hour. And Gonzalez said wages will go up to $22 or $23 per hour.

Washington’s current minimum wage is $13.69.

Western Washington recruiting

Still, the current Tri-City labor force is likely not able to fill the number of employees needed and the wages alone may not be enough to entice people to move to the Tri-Cities area to work for Amazon.

“I certainly think we need a game plan. We can’t expect Amazon is going to show up and everyone will flock it,” Gonzalez said.

Stephen McFadden, director of the Port of Pasco’s economic development agrees.

He said that when Amazon built a fulfillment center in Airway Heights just east of Spokane, surrounding entities and government agencies pooled their resources and spent $500,000 on a marketing campaign.

The effort targeted workers on the west side of the state to check out the quality of life and opportunities in Eastern Washington.

“We need to look at what Tri-City’s version is and try to answer the important questions,” McFadden said. “There is a great quality of life in Tri-Cities, and I think we have to sell that and sell it very well — and very passionately.”

Dye is looking at the big picture of pushing TRIDEC’s mission forward to help spur and support Tri-Cities economic growth.

The economic development agency wasn’t part of the planning for Amazon’s decision but expects to help Amazon and local leaders take a hard look at the assets needed to support a large influx of workers.

“When we bring on a huge employer we need to make sure we are doing everything that goes along with this kind of growth in the economy,” Dye said.

This story was originally published September 18, 2021 at 12:59 PM.