One year after Amazon opened its massive PSP3 warehouse in Desert Hot Springs, questions remain about the facility's local job impact. Officials once projected the project could bring more than 2,000 jobs to the area, but the facility's current workforce remains unclear.
According to KESQ, News Channel 3 is taking a closer look at whether the facility is delivering on its promises of jobs and economic growth, including how many people are actually working there today. Reporter Raymond Kalra has been speaking with Amazon leadership, employees, city officials, and people in the surrounding community as part of that effort, with his full report set to air at 6 p.m. tonight on News Channel 3. Amazon, for its part, says 51 employees have earned promotions into management and leadership roles since the warehouse opened.
What the Facility Actually Does
The PSP3 facility functions as what Amazon calls an inbound cross dock, meaning workers sort and organize inventory before it's shipped out rather than fulfilling customer orders directly on-site. Per KESQ's earlier coverage from when the facility opened, inventory from the Desert Hot Springs site is distributed to 40 Amazon fulfillment centers, and the site leader said at the time that around 70 trucks would arrive at the facility each day.
That operational model is a far cry from what was originally proposed. The project that Desert Hot Springs' planning commission approved back in March 2022 called for a roughly 3.4-million-square-foot warehouse, according to the Greater Palm Springs Business Insider. The facility that ultimately opened is a fraction of that size, with the outlet describing it as about 635,000 square feet, while Palm Springs Life described it as a 650,000-square-foot logistics hub. The Desert Sun reported the project was formally reduced to 653,442 square feet and from 105 feet to 45 feet in height.
Conflicting Numbers on Jobs and Hiring
The employment figures tied to the project tell a similarly tangled story. Early reporting on the larger 2022 proposal cited about 1,800 full-time jobs, the Business Insider noted, while the Desert Sun reported the revised, smaller project was expected to have 1,464 full-time employees, down from a previous estimate of 1,874. Palm Springs Life described the completed facility as projected to create approximately 1,400 jobs.
The facility's current workforce remains unclear, and KESQ's new report is asking how many people are actually working there today.
Why the Project Shrank
The project was scaled back from its original proposal.
What Research Says About Amazon Warehouses Broadly
The uncertainty in Desert Hot Springs echoes a broader pattern documented nationally. A nationwide analysis from the Economic Policy Institute found that two years after an Amazon fulfillment center opens in a county, warehousing employment in that county is approximately 30 percent greater. But the same analysis found that overall private-sector employment in those counties has not increased, suggesting that warehousing job gains are likely offset by losses in other industries. The institute also noted that by the end of 2016, Amazon had likely received over $1 billion in state and local subsidies for its facilities nationwide.
For now, the clearest picture of where things stand will come from Kalra's on-the-ground reporting, which draws directly on conversations with Amazon leadership, city officials, employees, and residents. Whether the warehouse closes the gap between its original 2,000-job promise and its current reality is the question his report tonight is built to answer.
