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SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2020
11
Business
BELLEVUE, WASHINGTON (AP) — The Seattle
suburb of Bellevue may soon be Amazon’s
unof icial “HQ3”.
The Seattle-based tech giant announced
on Friday that it was expanding its workforce
footprint in Bellevue, with new of ice
space plans that will host a total of 25,000
employees in the next several years, the
Seattle Times
reports.
That’s the same number of employees
promised for Arlington, Virginia, by 2030.
The Washington DC-area city won Amazon’s
closely watched HQ2 sweepstakes in 2018 by
offering USD573 million in cash grants and
tax incentives. Amazon in exchange pledged
to bring 25,000 new jobs that will pay on
average USD150,000 a year.
Bellevue, meanwhile, hasn’t provided
tax breaks or inancial incentives to
lure Amazon.
Since 2016, the company has been
leasing space in the tony Eastside suburb
about 10 miles east of downtown Seattle, just
across Lake Washington. Amazon now hosts
about 3,000 workers there and has been
growing its presence steadily in Bellevue’s
robust downtown corridor, which will soon
be connected with a Link light-rail station.
The latest announcement details Ama-
zon’s plan for the tony Eastside suburb, which
will include leasing two million square feet at
two towers that are both under construction.
The company is also seeking a permit for a
second skyscraper of its own, the
Seattle
Times
reports.
Amazon Vice President of Global Real
Estate and Facilities John Schoettler called
Bellevue a “business-friendly community
with great amenities, a high quality of life,
Amazon expanding to 25,000
workers in Seattle suburb
and a fantastic talent pool”. Amazon’s main
presence will still be near downtown Seattle,
where it hosts about 55,000 employees in
a mix of buildings it leases and owns. The
company said it has no new projects planned
for Seattle and wouldn’t comment on its future
hiring in the city.
Amazon has yet to comment publicly
on Seattle’s recently approved 1.4 per cent
payroll tax on the salaries of employees
earning USD150,000 or more, but the
Downtown Seattle Association - of which
Amazon is a member - has opposed the city’s
new tax, saying it will prompt employers to
leave Seattle.
The tax, which goes into effect next year,
is expected to raise more than USD200 million
per year for homelessness services and the
city’s coronavirus pandemic response, among
other issues.
Since moving and rapidly transforming
Seattle, the company has proudly touted its
urban location as a unique model that appeals
to a young, city-loving workforce. That was in
contrast to the usual suburban tech company
headquarter build-out.
File photo shows Chief Executive Of icer of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, speaking at the grand opening
of the Amazon Spheres, in Seattle, Washington. PHOTO: AFP
QUITO (XINHUA) - The Ecuadorian
government saved more than 56,000
jobs during the novel coronavirus
(COVID£19) pandemic thanks to a
Humanitarian Aid Law that was put
into force in June to combat the so-
cio-economic crisis, President Lenin
Moreno announced on Friday.
“The Humanitarian Aid Law that the
government presented (in May) before
the National Assembly is bearing fruit
and today is showing positive results,”
the president said in a message to
the nation.
“Not only did we protect more than
56,000 workers, but also we facilitated
the creation of 104,000 new jobs,” said
the president.
The government initiative was ap-
proved by the National Assembly
on May 15 and entered into force on
June 22, allowing employers to cut
hours for employees by up to 50 per
cent while preserving the position,
among other measures to mitigate
the consequences of the pandemic
on employment.
In June, the unemployment rate
in Ecuador skyrocketted to 13.3 per
cent, the highest igure recorded
since 2007, according to the Na-
tional Institute of Statistics and
Censuses (INEC).
To date, Ecuador has reported
117,175 cases and 6,674 deaths from
COVID£19.
Ecuador saves
over 56,000 jobs
during pandemic,
says president