With shoppers clearing out shelves in fear of quarantines or product shortages, retailers are racing to keep food and hygienic items in stock and have employees on hand for in-store work or delivery.

The e-commerce giant now expects to spend over US$500 million globally to increase wages for the workers during the pandemic, it said, up from a previous estimate of US$350 million.

The new hiring is in addition to the 100,000 warehouse and delivery workers it hired recently to deal with the demand surge.

“We know many people have been economically impacted as jobs in areas like hospitality, restaurants and travel are lost or furloughed as part of this crisis and we welcome anyone out of work to join us at Amazon until things return to normal and their past employer is able to bring them back,” the company said in a blog post.