LONDON — Labor shortages are forcing British businesses to hike wages to compete for workers, with Amazon offering joining bonuses of up to £3,000 ($4,140) in the run up to the festive period.The e-commerce giant is currently advertising a number of positions around the U.K. that come with hefty cash bonuses. One role, for a temporary warehouse worker in the English city of Exeter, is offering a £3,000 onboarding bonus, while a London-based job with the company offers a signing bonus of £2,000. Many other roles in Amazon’s U.K. warehouses are offering welcome bonuses of £1,500.Basic hourly rates are £11.10 per hour in London, while overtime pay can reach as much as £22.20. The average pay for warehouse workers in the U.K. is £ 10.16 per hour, according to jobs site Indeed.Amazon’s aggressive hiring drive is reflective of a labor problem spanning industries all over the U.K.Britain has an estimated shortage of 100,000 truck drivers, which has disrupted deliveries and led to empty store shelves, backlogs at ports and dry gas stations. Meanwhile, industries including agriculture, warehousing, food processing and hospitality have all warned of acute worker shortages.Graham Sheen, secretary of the U.K.’s The Bonded Warehousekeepers Association, told CNBC Tuesday that there was a shortage of warehouse workers, particularly following Brexit.“If you’re coming in from another country, you have to earn at least £26,000 to be granted a work visa — people who go into warehousing aren’t going to earn that sort of money,” he explained. “So they’re not going to go into warehousing.”cnbc.com