COLUMBUS – Amazon has become one of the largest employers in Ohio, but a new report show many of its workers still require public assistance to feed their families.
About one in ten Amazon employees or family members in Ohio received SNAP or food-assistance benefits in August 2017, according to the findings from the liberal-leaning think-tank Policy Matters Ohio.
“Amazon has got to be, if not the top, right near the top in terms of its growth, from a standing start to a major employer in the state. So, as they seem to represent much of the future of work, we need to be especially watchful of – well, what kind of work is it?” said research director, Zach Schiller, who says Amazon is now ranked 19th among Ohio employers whose workers get public assistance when months before, it wasn’t even on the list.
Schiller notes the Cleveland Clinic, Kroger and Walmart are among the other major Ohio businesses with large numbers of employees receiving food assistance, which he says illustrates that most SNAP recipients are working.
In a written statement, the Ohio Development Services Agency said, “Amazon has created thousands of new jobs and generated millions of dollars in new payroll consistent with Ohio’s requirements for economic incentives.”
Amazon has not commented on the report.
The recipient of millions of dollars’ worth of state and local subsidies, according to Schiller, Amazon employs approximately 6,000 people in Ohio, the largest number of them at two large warehouses in Etna and Obetz, and operates data centers, wind farms and Whole Foods outlets and Columbus has put in a bid to become home to the company’s second headquarters.