Another sign Triangle won’t get HQ2: Amazon steps up hiring in DC area

Here’s another sign that indicates Amazon will pick the Washington, D.C. area for its HQ2 project:

The ecommerce giant is stepping up hiring in and around the nation’s capital at a much faster pace than in the other 20 finalists for the project.

So says Seattle-based GeekWire.

“From May through July, Amazon had an average of about 841 open positions across those three areas combined. That trails only the company’s hometown of Seattle, and Silicon Valley (which is not an HQ2 finalist),” GeekWire reports.

Raleigh, meanwhile, ranks among the lowest. (GeekWire and other media sites consistently report Raleigh as the HQ2 finalist when Amazon has said it’s considering the Triangle region.)

Oddsmakers already don’t like the Triangle’s chances.

Boston and New York rank a distant second and third to the D.C. region for Amazon hiring,

Amazon did recently disclose plans to build a new distribution center in Garner, and it has a growing warehouse-and-delivery service in the Triangle. But that’s small potatoes compared to the scale of hiring Amazon is already carrying out in D.C. as well as in Dallas and Austin, Texas, which also are finalists.

More coverage:

Site selection exec: ‘Significant, self-inflicted wounds’ hurt NC in Apple, Amazon HQ2 bids

The news website worked with a third-party firm that it did not identify to track down available job posts.

GeekWire notes that Amazon already has a growing presence in the D.C. area, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has a massive home in D.C. and he owns The Washington Post.

Given that Amazon also identified three sites in the region as finalists gives even further credence to predictions that HQ2 and its 50,000 jobs as well as $5 billion investment will land somewhere near the nation’s capital.

“Taken at face value, Amazon’s push in the D.C. area doesn’t mean the region is a shoo-in for HQ2,” GeekWire says. “But it does suggest that Amazon sees the region as a talent pool teeming with possibilities. Access to talent is among the chief considerations for Amazon’s second headquarters.”

Maryland also has offered a multi-billion-dollar incentives package for HQ2.

Amazon has said it will declare a winner this year.