Amazon is offering 100 dollar (£71) bonuses to job seekers vaccinated against Covid-19 as it looks to hire 75,000 people across the US.

The jobs are for delivery and warehouse workers, who pack and ship online orders.

Amazon, which pays at least 15 dollars (£11) an hour, gave out pay rises for some of its workers last month, and the company said on Thursday that new hires will make an average of 17 dollars (£12) an hour.

The hiring spree comes as the company gears up for Prime Day next month, its popular sales event that has become one of the busiest shopping days of the year for Amazon.

Amazon did not say if it is having trouble finding workers but other companies have said they are as Americans start heading out again.

There are many reasons for the worker shortage. Some are fearful they will catch coronavirus, others have child care issues and some businesses do not pay enough to go beyond the extra 300 dollars-a-week federal unemployment benefit.

McDonald’s, Chipotle and other companies have announced pay hikes to try and lure workers back.

Besides the 100 dollar bonus for vaccinated new hires, Amazon said it will also offer a separate 1,000 dollar (£713) sign-on bonus to attract new workers in many parts of the country.

Mandy of its job openings are in 14 states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Washington and Wisconsin.

Seattle-based Amazon, which has more than 1.2 million employees worldwide, is the second-largest private employer in the US after retailer Walmart.

Last year alone, Amazon hired 500,000 people to keep up with a surge of orders during the pandemic as more people stayed at home and shopped online.