Half of Amazon warehouse workers struggle to cover food, housing costs, report finds

Roughly half of frontline warehouse workers at Amazon are having trouble making ends meet, a new report shows. The study comes five years after the online retailer raised minimum hourly wages to $15.

Fifty-three percent of workers said they experienced food insecurity in the previous three months, while 48% said they had trouble covering rent or housing costs over the same time period, according to a report from the Center for Urban Economic Development at the University of Illinois Chicago. Another 56% of warehouse workers who sort, pack and ship goods to customers said they weren't able to pay their bills in full. 

"This research indicates just how far the goalposts have shifted. It used to be the case that big, leading firms in the economy provided a path to the middle class and relative economic security," Dr. Sanjay Pinto, senior fellow at CUED and co-author of the report, said in a statement Wednesday. "Our data indicate that roughly half of Amazon's front-line warehouse workers are struggling with food and housing insecurity and being able to pay their bills. That's not what economic security looks like."