Amazon
Amazon's annual profit climbed to almost $78 billion over the study period as more of its workers relied on federal food aid Marques Thomas/Unsplash

Amazon workers relying on food stamps and Medicaid have nearly tripled in number since 2020, a federal watchdog found, even as the company plans to spend $200 billion (£148 billion) on artificial intelligence (AI) this year while taxpayers cover their grocery bills.

The findings come from a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report requested by Senator Bernie Sanders and released on 22 July. It reviewed benefit records across 11 states that hold nearly a fifth of the US population.

In those states, 12,346 Amazon staff were enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and 11,338 were on Medicaid, roughly triple the totals from the previous review in 2020.

Amazon ranked second among traditional employers of aid recipients, behind Walmart, which had 16,055 workers on Medicaid and 15,515 on SNAP. FedEx also climbed sharply, its Medicaid enrolment more than tripling over the period.

Gig Work Overtakes Walmart

Ride-hailing and delivery platforms including Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, Grubhub, and Instacart together became the single largest source of SNAP recipients, a category the watchdog barely registered in 2020. The shift shows how contract work, not only warehouse jobs, has reshaped the low-wage economy.

DoorDash disputed the framing, pointing to a survey suggesting a third of its couriers work to avoid needing such aid.

From $200 Billion to $220 Billion

The contrast with Amazon's spending is sharp. The company's annual profit grew from $11.59 billion (£8.6 billion) to $77.67 billion (£57 billion) over roughly the study window. It first guided investors towards $200 billion in capital spending for 2026, then lifted that to $220 billion (£162 billion) on 30 July, with chief executive Andy Jassy blaming higher memory chip costs.

Most of the money funds massive, high-performance AI data centres for Amazon Web Services (AWS), where segment revenue rose an impressive 37% in the second quarter.

Jassy explicitly told investors that this historic capital outlay tracks real, immediate enterprise demand rather than speculative market hype, emphasising that the technology giant still simply cannot build out infrastructure and server capacity fast enough.

Wages That Barely Moved

Pay data helps explain why a job no longer guarantees a full fridge. Bureau of Labour Statistics (BLS) figures show real average hourly earnings reached just $11.32 (£8.35) in June 2026, up from $11.18 (£8.25) two years earlier.

Nationally, the GAO estimated 13.8 million working Americans were on Medicaid and 10.6 million on SNAP, most of them in full-time roles in transport, retail, or food service. Both totals have risen since 2020, when about 12 million relied on Medicaid and 9 million on food stamps. The report lands as US households face higher grocery costs, sharpening questions about who pays when large employers keep wages low.

Amazon Pushes Back

Amazon called the report misleading. Spokesperson Rachael Lighty said it counted raw numbers rather than percentages, and that the company's part-time roles make more staff eligible for benefits. Sanders framed it differently, arguing that taxpayers should not have to subsidise the 'starvation wages' of highly profitable corporations. He tied the trend to recent tax cuts for large employers, funded by cuts to Medicaid and food aid.

For now, the public pays the cost. As Amazon channels record sums into AI, the workers packing its boxes and steering its deliveries lean ever harder on the same taxpayers already covering their grocery bills.

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