After locating “Amazon HQ2” as a second headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, Amazon struck a $750 million tax break with state and local officials in exchange for generating jobs in the region, but instead of seeing growth, the Arlington location lost 200 positions in 2023.
Loss in job growth comes as the company promised to generate 25,000 jobs by the end of the decade, including 2,500 in 2023. Last year’s loss in job growth also coincides with the company pausing in construction of three office buildings and the Helix, which has been delayed for more than a year. However, Holly Sullivan, the company’s vice president of worldwide economic development, said there are 1,000 open positions at HQ2 between the two office towers that opened last year. Those offices were part of a $2 billion investment.
“Last year we made the tough decision to eliminate a small percentage of corporate roles and to slow hiring around the globe, which impacted our forecast growth in HQ2,” Sullivan said in a statement.
The downturn in job growth for HQ2 hit as more people are working remote or hybrid. It also follows as the tech industry has dealt with mass layoffs since 2022.
Virginia’s incentives for Amazon are structured to ensure the company maintains those new positions for at least five years. In order for Amazon to receive those benefits from the commonwealth, it must submit a report every spring showing its total hiring progress at HQ2. The company has been doing so since 2019. Last April, the company hired 6,939 employees out of 8,000 total positions in Arlington. This year’s report said it filled 6,644 jobs and had 7,791 total employees at HQ2.
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The incentives are structured so Virginia will pay Amazon $22,000 for each full-time job with an average salary of $150,000. In last year’s application, Amazon asked the state for nearly $153 million in taxpayer subsidies to be paid out by 2026. However, the drop in hiring means the incentives could drop by several million dollars. This year, Amazon did not receive an application, so it will unlikely be receiving a payout in 2027.
While hiring remains stagnant at the moment, Sullivan said the company is committed to its goal of hiring 25,000 workers by 2030.
