E-commerce giant Amazon is planning to pay the cost of college tuition of all 750,000 of its frontline workers in the US, reports BBC. This comes after the online shopping giant struggled to attract and retain staff amid an industry wide labour shortage.

According to the company’s statement, it would invest $1.2bn in the scheme, with staff can access the annual funding for as long as they remain at Amazon.

With this move, Amazon joins the likes of Walmart and Target, who have offered to fund their workers’ education.

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In a blog post, the e-commerce giant said the new programme would be applicable in hundreds of education institutes across the the US.

In its statement, the shopping giant said its new scheme would also cover other types of education, including high school diplomas and English language courses, as well as extending on-the-job career training to 300,000.

Dave Clark, head of worldwide consumer at Amazon, said the company is now the largest job creator in the US, adding that they believe investing in free skills training will have a huge impact for hundreds of thousands of families across the country.

US jobless claims fall to new pandemic low as economy recovers

To lure back employees, many US firms are offering a range of benefits and incentives as COVID restrictions are easing.

According to the US Labour Department, job openings hit a fresh record high of 10.9 million in July, surpassing the number of unemployed people by more than two million.

Walmart, last month, announced to pay tuition fee and cost of books for its hourly staffers. It includes 1.5 million people.

And retail store Target will offer free undergraduate degrees to more than 340,000 employees at its US stores.

Some firms are also offering bonuses and increasing wages to attract workers. Other are urging 14 and 15 year-olds to apply to tackle the shortage.