Whole Foods, owned by internet behemoth Amazon ($AMZN), is planning on cutting health benefits for 1,900 employees starting in 2020. What's significant about this fact is that Whole Foods is hiring part-time workers has more than doubled since January 1st, 2019.

When we dig a bit deeper, it's for workers who don't work at least 30 hours a week. Here is the company's reason for why this decision is being made.

"In order to better meet the needs of our business and create a more equitable and efficient scheduling model, we are moving to a single-tier part-time structure." - The most valuable corporation on planet Earth, currently

So this spurred a vitriolic response on social media, and also got us to wonder what we can glean from the alternative data. From the start of the year until today, the number of part-time job openings for Whole Foods rose 211%.

The rest of Whole Foods jobs also nearly doubled over the same time frame - our next chart.

Once the medical benefits cut starts to take effect, we will keep an eye on roles like these, to determine how Amazon continues to reshape Whole Foods under its brand. 

Job Title

Number of Job Openings Affected

Part Time Cashier

2,319

Part Time Produce Team Member

1,058

Part Time Grocery Team Member

765

Part Time Meat Team Member

748

Part Time Dishwasher

663

Part Time Bakery Team Member

658

Part Time Seafood Team Member

637

Part Time Prepared Foods Team Member

634

Cashier - Part Time

523

Part Time Specialty Team Member

422

Cashier Part Time

392

Part Time Sanitation Team Member

383

Seafood Team Member - Part Time

364

Part Time Cake Decorator

360

All just to save some money and to have a more "efficient" schedule. As long as your version of efficiency isn't necessarily having healthcare. 

About the Data: 

Thinknum tracks companies using information they post online - jobs, social and web traffic, product sales and app ratings - and creates data sets that measure factors like hiring, revenue and foot traffic. Data sets may not be fully comprehensive (they only account for what is available on the web), but they can be used to gauge performance factors like staffing and sales. 

Further Reading: