Amazon estimated that the average salary of its 25,000 HQ2 employees in New York would be $150,000 — well above the median income of local residents.
About 12,500 of those positions were expected to be in administration, custodial, and other non-tech roles. The remaining 12,500 would most likely have required a bachelor's degree or coding background. Some New Yorkers feared that Amazon would bring in its tech talent from other states.
Research from Timothy Bartik, an economist at the W. E. Upjohn Institute, shows that companies accepting incentives packages from a city tend to hire local in the short team, but after a few decades, around 85% of their jobs go to outside residents.