Amazon to create 15,000 jobs in Bellevue, Washington

Amazon is planning to hire more than 15,000 employees in the Seattle suburb of Bellevue, the company said. The online retailer is also building a new tower in the suburb where many of these employees would be working. 

Work on a 43-story tower referred to as Bellevue 600 is underway and the building will have about 1 million square feet of office space and the construction is expected to be completed by 2024. Within the next few years, Amazon predicts that it will be bringing about 15,000 jobs and currently there are about 2,000 employees working in Bellevue where there are about 700 job openings in the company. 

Amazon has deep roots with Bellevue as CEO Jeff Bezos founded the company in 1994 out of a 1,540-square-foot house in West Bellevue. The company currently has around 798,000 workers across the globe which happens to be a 23 percent increase as compared to last year. It is also growing its footprint in other parts of the US such as New York where the company has leased more than 335,000 square feet of office space in Hudson Yards and plans to hire more than 1,500 employees. 

Plans of expansion are also underway in northern Virginia where the company is building its second headquarters. About 400 employees have been hired to work out of leased offices in Crystal City, Virginia. About 5,000 jobs are expected to be brought to Nashville, Tennessee, where two new office towers are also being built.