The e-commerce giant raised the limit from US$160,000 for corporate and tech staff, as it sees a “need to remain competitive for attracting and retaining top talent” amid “a particularly competitive labour market” last year, according to an internal memo. (GeekWire)

Talking point: The company shared the memo with The Logic, but did not answer questions about whether it would institute a similar bump for Canadian staff. The memo states the company is “increasing overall compensation ranges for most jobs globally, and the increases are much more considerable than we’ve done in the past.” In 2018, the company increased minimum wage for its U.S. staff to US$15 an hour—a move that others then also enacted, against the backdrop of activists pushing for a higher minimum wage. Last year, Amazon bumped the average starting wage for U.S. employees to US$18 an hour, and in Canada to between $17 and $21.65. Higher pay is one perk that companies are using to recruit in a competitive market, but some Canadian companies have been vocal about the challenges of competing against deep-pocketed foreign tech companies for top domestic talent.