Amazon to open Pittsburgh fulfillment center

Online retail giant Amazon.com will expand in Pennsylvania with the addition of a more than one million square-foot facility in Pittsburgh, the company said Tuesday.

The fulfillment center will create more than 800 full-time jobs where employees will pick, pack, and ship larger items such as sports equipment, patio furniture, kayaks, and larger home goods, Amazon said.

Employees at the new facility will have access to Amazon's upskilling initiative, a recently announced investment aimed at training employees for highly skilled technical and non-technical jobs across a range of functions, including logistics, transportation, fulfillment, data science, information technology, and more, Amazon also said. The program includes funding for Amazon's Career Choice program, in which the company will pre-pay up to 95 percent of tuition for courses related to in-demand fields, regardless of whether the skills are relevant to a career at Amazon.

The online retailer currently employs 10,000 people across Pennsylvania. Amazon did not provide a timeline for construction or the opening of the new Pittsburgh fulfillment center.