After hiring 500,000 new workers last year to address the surge in online shopping, Amazon.com Inc. today announced plans to add an additional 75,000 staff across its fulfillment center and logistics network.

The new positions are being created in the U.S. and Canada. The company said that the openings will offer an average starting pay of more than $17 per hour, as well as sign-up bonuses of up to $1,000 at some locations. Amazon will provide an additional $100 bonus to new hires who show proof of their COVID-19 vaccination.

Cowen & Co. Inc. analysts told clients in a memo today that they see the company’s latest hiring push as a sign that its e-commerce business is continuing to see strong demand.

Amazon’s revenues jumped 44% last quarter, to a mammoth $108.52 billion, thanks to strong growth in both its retail and cloud computing businesses. For the current quarter, the company expects to post even stronger sales of $110 billion to $116 billion.

The company’s e-commerce momentum is driven partly by the large and fast growing portion of its customer base with subscriptions to Prime. In his final shareholder letter last month, Amazon Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos disclosed that Prime’s membership has more than doubled from two years ago, to more than 200 million users. The service offers access to benefits such as discounts and free two-day shipping.

In addition to hiring about a half-million workers last year to meet growing e-commerce demand, Amazon implemented multiple pay increases. The company announced plans to increase wages again a few weeks ago. Amazon will invest $1 billion to provide raises of between 50 cents and $3 an hour to more than 500,000 employees.

Cowen analysts estimate that if Amazon recruits the 75,000 additional workers it intends to add this year by June, the company would add roughly $1.3 billion in labor costs during the second half of the year.

Even with its sizable workforce expansions and other investments over recent months, Amazon managed to top first-quarter profit expectations easily. It generated a net income of $8.1 billion in the three months ended March 31, more than triple the $2.5 billion it earned the year prior. Amazon’s profit, similarly to its revenue and second-quarter sales projection, easily topped the consensus analyst estimates. 

Alongside the plan to hire 75,000 additional workers, the company today announced that it has expanded its onsite vaccination events from three fulfillment centers to more than 250 locations across the U.S. and Canada. Amazon also maintains an in-house COVID-19 testing program that it operates in more than 800 facilities globally.

As of early February, Amazon employed nearly 1.3 million workers around the world. The company operates more than 175 fulfillment centers, with about 150 million square feet of combined space.

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