From 2010 to 2020 we’ve committed more than €6.8 billion to grow Amazon in Spain. In addition, if you take in to account our cumulative investments in Spain plus our GDP contribution, Amazon has achieved an estimated total contribution of over €13.9 billion1 since 2010.

With this investment, we have become a major Spanish employer, and we now employ more than 18,000 people in good quality permanent roles across Spain. We are incredibly proud of how we have been able to make good jobs available to so many people and, in 2021 alone, we created 6,000 new permanent positions across our Spanish business.

Some numbers to highlight:

  • 10 years after our arrival to Spain, Amazon has become a major engine for job creation and we are currently one of the top 15 employers in the country, ranking among the top 5 in the retail sector2.
  • We have created 11,000 permanent jobs in Spain in just two years.
  • We have committed to reaching 25,000 permanent employees in Spain by 2025.
  • Amazon has contributed to generating over 71,000 indirect jobs in Spain across its supply chain, including, for example, building, property and professional services as well as those working for the more than 12,000 SMBs that sell on Amazon
  • We created 65,000 new jobs across our EU and UK businesses during 2021, and we now employ more than 200,000 people in permanent roles in these regions.

We also support the creation of a large number of jobs outside of Amazon by providing local companies (many of them small and medium-sized enterprises) with the technologies and tools they need to sell their products to a global customer base. We estimate that more than 30,000 people are currently employed across our Spanish third-party seller network. But the influence we have on job creation and the communities we serve doesn’t stop there. We’ve also supported the development of indirect work opportunities across our Spanish supply chain. More than 41,000 people now work for companies providing services to Amazon across Spain.

In addition to that, in 2020, Amazon launched Despega, a program designed with the collaboration of IE University, ICEX España Exportación e Inversiones, CEPYME and AECOC to boost the growth and the digitization of small businesses across Spain in the wake of the pandemic. More than 13,000 Spanish SMBs and entrepreneurs have benefited from the program to date. Amazon is committed to training 50,000 companies by 2025 with the necessary skills to sell globally and to lay strong foundations to be successful for years, either with Amazon, alone or through other online services.

In 2022 Amazon Web Services (AWS) will open a new infrastructure region in Spain to power the digital transformation of Spanish businesses and organizations and to support the economic growth of the country. Located in Aragón, the new AWS Europe (Spain) Region represents an additional €2.5 billion investment and the estimated creation of 1,300 new full-time jobs over the next 10 years.

Our workplaces

At Amazon, we provide all kinds of jobs for all kinds of people, from young to old, from those with few skills to people with doctorate-level qualifications, and new entrants to work who train on the job, including graduates and apprentices, to people with decades of experience. There’s a potential role for everyone, from our operations sites, customer service centers and data centers through to our R&D hubs, fashion studios and corporate headquarters.

We take our role as a large employer very seriously. All of our employees are paid a competitive salary and receive a comprehensive benefits package from day one, including a retirement savings plan and health insurance. A typical FC site will employ between 1,000 and 2,000 people in permanent roles and even more on a seasonal basis. As well as providing some of the most advances workplaces of their kind in the world, with processes and systems to ensure the wellbeing and safety of employees, people receive excellent starting pay and benefits from day one. For our frontline employees, salaries vary depending on the region in which they are located. If we take Madrid as a reference, the annual base salary is more than 20,300 euros gross. Furthermore, every frontline employee is eligible for our Amazon Career Choice program after they’ve worked for us for one year. Career Choice provides employees with free funding for professional training and tuition up to a value of €8,000 to gain new skills to support them when pursuing their career at Amazon or elsewhere. The program is particularly focused on high-demand occupations in areas such as manufacturing, healthcare and transportation, and it has benefited more than 50,000 Amazon employees worldwide to date.

Amazon is the gateway into the world of work for many younger people. Our Spanish workforce as a whole is relatively young. Since 2018, over 1,500 people we’ve recruited have been under the age of 28, and the average age of an Amazon employee in Spain is 34. And many of the jobs we created during 2021 were in high-skills, high-demand professions; during the year we recruited over 350 people into, for example, software development, information technology and engineering roles.

Amazon’s global leadership principles include an ambition to become “Earth's best employer”. It’s an ambition we take very seriously, and it informs every aspect of how we engage with and support the people who work for us. In 2021 and 2022, we received in Spain the Top Employer certification in recognition of our diverse and inclusive work environment, our professional development opportunities and the training programs we are offering to employees. Amazon has also been named the most attractive company to work for in the country, according to the Randstad research [ES] surveying 10,000 people in 2021, and we have been appointed by LinkedIn [ES] as one of the best companies to work for in Spain.

More than €6.8 billion

invested in Spain since 2011

In 2021 we opened several new sites, and we currently have around 40 facilities throughout Spain. Amazon's economic impact does not only benefit large urban areas, but also smaller towns in different regions that are seeing how the company helps them reduce their unemployment rate.

In addition to the new openings, we are rapidly growing our software development centers - Tech Hubs - in Madrid and Barcelona, ​​where nearly 600 software developers, computer engineers and data scientists work on apps for Amazon Business, Kindle and books, retail and artificial intelligence.

Investments in culture and entertainment are also part of our commitments in Spain. AT the end of 2021 Prime Video announced a 1€ million donation to support the recovery of the Spanish entertainment industry after the pandemic. The donation, managed in coordination with Acción Cultural Española, the Cinema Academy and the Cinematography and Audiovisual Arts Institute, will focus on supporting diversity and emerging talent.

When it comes to investments in sustainability, Amazon has become the largest corporate buyer of renewable energy in Spain, with nine solar projects in the country that will have a combined capacity of more than 1,15 GW. Globally, we have 274 wind and solar projects, with a total renewable energy capacity of more than 12 GW generating 33,700 gigawatt per hour (GWh). When all projects become fully operational, they will provide renewable energy for our corporate offices, fulfillment centers, and Amazon Web Services (AWS) data centers, serving millions of customers around the world. We are on a path to running 100% of our business on renewable energy by 2025 — five years ahead of our original target of 2030.

Spain is a country of talent and opportunity, and we’re pleased to play a role in fostering that, while supporting growth. Ten years since our launch in Spain we are as excited as on Day One to continue working to find the best ways to invest in the people who work for us and the communities we serve.

Read more about our investments across Europe here.

1Analysis made by Keystone Strategy
2According to Informa D&B 2020 database