Milan – July 20, 2020 – Amazon announces today it will create 1,600 permanent jobs in Italy by the end of the year, in a move that will take the company’s total workforce to over 8,500, up from 6,900 at the end of 2019 in more than 25 locations across Italy.

2020 marks the tenth year of Amazon in Italy creating jobs, enabling small and medium businesses, investing in infrastructure and sustainability to support the digital transformation of the economy, and generating tax revenue.

In 2019 Amazon invested €1.8 billion Euros in Italy, including investments in fulfillment centers, corporate offices and in the new AWS (Milan) Region opened in April. €140 million Euros will be invested in the construction of two new Fulfillment Centers opening in late 2020. 120,000 new jobs were created in 2019 through indirect effects of our investments.

Further investments are underway in sustainability to reach 100% renewable energy across all business operations by 2025 and to become a net zero carbon global business by 2040, a decade ahead of the Paris Agreement’s goal.

These new job opportunities are for people with all types of experience, education and skill levels in fields such as software development, linguists, logistics, human resources and IT across our Italian Corporate Office in Milan; Development Centers in Turin and Asti; our Customer Service Center in Cagliari, Italy; our Fulfillment Centers, Delivery Stations and Prime Now sites across the country.

Amazon state-of-the art facilities offer local employees a great and safe working environment. We have invested approximately $4 billion USD worldwide on COVID-related initiatives getting products to customers and keeping employees safe. Nothing is more important: to ensure the safety of our teams we introduced over 150 process updates—from enhanced cleaning and social distancing measures to the distribution of personal protective gear.

The new jobs Amazon is creating offer opportunities for professional development, competitive salaries and rewarding benefits such as discounts for purchases on Amazon.it, private healthcare insurance and private medical assistance, which is a big leap up from most entry level jobs. In 2019, Amazon paid, on average, €17.2 million Euros per month in wages and salaries to our employees in Italy.

Amazon has also shared details of its 2019 investments in Italy: €1.8 billion Euros, including investments in fulfillment centers, corporate offices and in the new AWS (Milan) Region.

Through indirect effects of these investments, more than 120,000 new jobs have been created in 2019, for example in construction, logistics and by over 14,000 Italian small and medium businesses, using our Amazon’s Made in Italy showcase or services like Fulfillment by Amazon to grow their businesses and export Italian products around the world. In 2019, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from Italy exported products worth more than €500 million Euros via Amazon.

Looking at 2020 Amazon has already planned an investment of more than €140 million Euros in the construction of the fifth and sixth Fulfillment Centers. They will be opened in Castelguglielmo/San Bellino (Veneto) and Colleferro (Lazio) in late 2020 where employees will be working hand in hand with the latest technology. And further delivery stations are already planned to open in the second half of the year in Catania, Cagliari, Pisa, Brescia, Parma and Milan. An investment aimed at building the digital and physical infrastructure to deliver products and services to millions of Italian customers, and at helping to digitally empower Italian small businesses.

Moreover, Amazon Web Services opened the AWS (Milan) Region on April 28th, 2020 actively supporting the recovery and the growth of Italian businesses and the digital transformation of our economy, enabling start-ups, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and large enterprises or government agencies, to run workloads and securely store data in Italy as well as serve end-users with even lower latency.

Mariangela Marseglia, Amazon Country Manager in Italy and Spain, said: “Amazon is a powerful engine of growth for the Italian economy. Through innovation, investments and job creation, Amazon is helping the digital transformation of the country – something that has become even more of a priority to sustain the economy in these challenging times. We’ve invested over €5.8 billion Euros in the Italian economy and in its people, employing thousands of talented individuals who receive competitive pay and comprehensive benefits from day one. I’m particularly proud of how our growing team and our investment on behalf of customers and Italian small businesses contribute to Italy’s prosperity, creating thousands of additional jobs through indirect effects and opening up new opportunities for colleagues, partners, service providers and suppliers”.

How Amazon investments contribute to national GDP
Amazon has made direct investments in our Italian operations of more than €5.8 billion Euros from 2010 to 2019. This includes both capital expenditure (such as the infrastructure we build, such as our fulfillment centers, corporate offices and data centers), and operating expenditures (such as the salaries we pay to our employees in Italy).

Through investments and job creation, Amazon contributes to prosperity and growth in Italy. According to the independent consulting and economic analysis firm Keystone, Amazon contributed to the gross domestic product (GDP) in Italy by €7.6 billion Euros between 2010 and 2019. This corresponds approximately to 1.5 times the annual GDP of Valle d’Aosta Region.

Total tax contributions in Italy
As we continue to hire, invest, and grow in Italy, we contribute our share to fund public services and infrastructure throughout the country. We do this through the taxes that are collected by the government as a consequence of our activities in Italy. Those taxes fall into two categories:

  • Directly incurred taxes: the taxes that are directly incurred and payable by Amazon, including Corporation Tax (Ires and IRAP), taxes paid for land acquisition or construction (Registration Tax), payroll taxes and social security paid by employers, import duties.
  • Indirect taxes collected and remitted: the taxes we collect and remit from our customers, employees, and other third parties because of our business activities in Italy. These include VAT and the taxes paid by our employees.

It’s important to understand both of those categories, because focusing narrowly on one aspect of taxation, such as Corporation Tax, doesn’t tell the whole story: Corporation Tax according to some recent research conducted by the OECD accounts for only around 5% of total tax revenues from Italian taxpayers.

Amazon in Italy, as in Europe, is a young company that is heavily investing in infrastructure and in its growing workforce to operate a growing business in a low margin industry. For these reasons operating profits remain low compared to most mature companies.

This is how our tax numbers look like in detail:

  • In 2019, the total revenues of Amazon’s activities in Italy were €4.5 billion Euros
  • In 2019 Amazon invested €1.8 billion Euros in Italy, including €168 million Euros as capital expenditure (i.e. infrastructure: fulfillment centers, corporate offices and data centers)
  • Our total tax contribution was €234 million Euros.

This splits into:

  • Our total directly incurred taxes were €84 million Euros. Employer taxes accounted for the largest proportion of these.
  • The indirect taxes we collected of an additional €150 million Euros in taxes as a result of our business in Italy.

Amazon impact on Italian economy – Ten years of investments
All the figures about job creation, investments in Italy, contribution to GDP and total tax contributions are available here.

About Amazon
Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit www.aboutamazon.it.