American online retail giantAmazonsIt said it will pay all of its high school and college tuition, book fees, and other expenses for its more than 750,000 hourly workers in the US.

According to a statement on Amazon, the incentive program will cover associate or bachelor's degrees, as well as high school diplomas, general education development certificates (GED), and English as a Second Language (ESL) proficiency certificates. The project will begin in January next year, and employees will need to work at Amazon for at least 90 days before they are eligible to join the program.

Amazon has joinedWalmartwithTargetWait for other retailers to offer this kind of education benefit in order to recruit and retain employees in a tight labor market. But Amazon appears to be more generous, as other companies only promise to pay their employees college tuition.

The e-commerce giant even promised to pay tuition and other fees in advance, rather than requiring employees to pay out of pocket before receiving compensation, like several other companies.

Amazon has also announced several new or expanded in-house training and education programs, and continues to offer new hires a sign-up bonus — as much as $3,000 in some markets — and a starting salary of $17 per hour.