Amazon to add 2,100 jobs in Indiana
Amazon announced plans Tuesday to add more than 2,000 new full-time jobs in Indiana as part of a hiring spree at its warehouses across the country.
Most of those new jobs will be in Central Indiana, the company said.
The online retail giant plans to hire 1,400 new employees at its fulfillment centers in Indianapolis, Plainfield and Whitestown. An additional 700 jobs are planned for Southern Indiana at the company’s Jeffersonville location.
Nina Lindsey, an Amazon spokeswoman, said the jobs are part of a national hiring splurge to keep up with demand, primarily from international customers.
The company plans to fill those jobs immediately, she said.
The Indiana Economic Development Corp. is in negotiations to provide incentives for the new jobs, but no details have been released.
Amazon already employs 7,000 workers in Indiana.
Gov. Mike Pence attributed Amazon’s decision to “Indiana’s low-cost, low-regulation business environment.”
“As the Crossroads of America, Indiana is positioned logistically to help Amazon better serve its customers with efficiency,” he said in a statement. “It’s great to see that Amazon, a very strong global company that already employs more than 7,000 Hoosiers, has recognized Indiana as a state that works and a place where it can continue to expand and employ thousands of Hoosiers.”
Tuesday’s news came on top of another big coup for the state — a deal with the National FFA Organization to keep its 60,000-attendee youth conference in Indianapolis for nine years beginning in 2016.
Pence and Mayor Greg Ballard plan to join FFA officials to announce the deal Wednesday morning at the FFA’s national headquarters in Indianapolis.
The two announcements are likely to add fuel to Pence’s re-election effort, which got off to an anemic start last month after a legislative session that included a high-profile battle over control of the State Board of Education, the controversial repeal of the state’s wage-setting law for public construction projects and a national firestorm over Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
Poll numbers released the day before his re-election announcement showed that a majority of Hoosiers wanted a new governor. Pence then failed to raise as much money as one of his Democratic opponents, former Indiana House Speaker John Gregg, though the first-term governor has more than twice as much as Gregg in his campaign war chest.
Despite the setbacks, Pence has promised his supporters a fierce campaign, even if it means backing off his long-standing pledge to avoid negative campaigning.
Call Star reporter Tony Cook at (317) 444-6081. Follow him on Twitter: @indystartony.
