Amazon to Retrain a Third of Its U.S. Workforce

Amazon.com Inc. AMZN -1.50% is the latest example of a large employer committing to help its workers gain new skills. The online retailer said Thursday it plans to spend $700 million over about six years to retrain a third of its U.S. workforce as automation, machine learning and other technology upends the way many of its employees do their jobs. Companies as varied as AT&T Inc., Walmart Inc., WMT -0.11% JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Accenture ACN -0.81% PLC have embarked on efforts to prepare workers for new roles. At a time of historically low unemployment, coupled with rapid digital transformation that requires high-tech job skills, more U.S. companies said they want to help their employees transition to new positions--and they have their bottom line squarely in focus. Many have concluded that they must coach existing staff to take on different types of work, or face a dire talent shortage, said Ryan Carson, founder and chief executive of Treehouse, a firm that pairs tech apprentices, often from underrepresented groups, with employers and helps train them.