Amazon (AMZN) – Get Report next year plans to open a fulfillment center near Austin, expanding its Texas footprint and adding 1,000 new full-time jobs.
The 820,000-square-foot facility in Pflugerville, half an hour northeast of Austin, will see staff and robots picking, packing and shipping items to customers.
Currently, 20,000 Texans work for Amazon. The new jobs bring a minimum starting wage of $15 an hour, Alicia Boler Davis, Amazon’s vice president of global customer fulfillment, said in a statement.
Plugerville, population 60,000, is part of the greater Austin metropolitan area, which has 2.2 million residents.
“Pflugerville is a bustling area, and the addition of this fulfillment center with over 1,000 jobs shows that Pflugerville is the new frontier in Central Texas,” Pflugerville Mayor Victor Gonzales said in Amazon’s statement.
The Seattle online-retail and tech giant says its investments in Texas have contributed $9 billion into the state’s economy. The company also says it has created 32,000 indirect jobs in the state.
On Tuesday, Amazon said it was collaborating with healthcare provider Crossover Health to create a pilot program that will build employee-health centers near fulfillment centers like the one it is building in Pflugerville.
The first Neighborhood Health Center is located near the company’s operations in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The facility has opened and could potentially serve up to 20,000 employees in the area.
The company plans to open 20 similar centers in five cities during the initial phase of the program. The company is targeting Dallas, Detroit, Louisville, Ky., Phoenix and the San Bernardino/Moreno Valley area of California.
At last check Amazon shares were trading off 2.4% just above $3,011.
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