Amazon has announced that it hopes to hire 150,000 employees across its operations network for the holiday season, about the same amount as last year.
The news comes just days after The New York Times reported that Amazon was putting a freeze on corporate hiring in its retail business for the rest of the year in response to current economic uncertainty. The company also has been steadily trimming down its logistics workforce following a hiring spree during the pandemic, but these seasonal hiring numbers suggest that Amazon is expecting strong demand for this holiday season, if not in the longer term.
The 150,000 new positions will include full-time, seasonal and part-time roles across a range of jobs, including stowing, picking, packing, sorting, shipping orders and more. Jobs are available across the U.S., but the states with the greatest number of available positions include California, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, Oregon, Texas, Tennessee, Utah and Washington.
Amazon’s operations employees are paid, on average, approximately $19 per hour based on position and location. The company also is offering a signing bonus of $1,000 to $3,000 at select locations, and has touted the fact that these seasonal roles are often “the start of a long-term career inside or outside the company.”
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“Whether someone is looking for some extra money for a few months or a long-term career, the holidays are a great time for people to join Amazon, and many of our seasonal employees return year after year or transition into full-time roles,” said John Felton, SVP of Worldwide Operations at Amazon in a statement. “Those who choose to stay with us will find a lot of opportunities to grow their careers, whether they take advantage of our free college tuition programs or seek out promotions across our network — this year alone, more than 20,000 frontline employees received promotions.”
Retailers across the board are prepping for what many analysts believe will be an extended holiday shopping season. Amazon hopes to capitalize on early shopping with a second Prime sales event, taking place Oct. 11-12 in 15 countries, while Target is kicking off its Target Deal Days “earlier than ever” on Oct. 6-8.
Target also is maintaining its 2021 holiday hiring levels, with plans to again bring on 100,000 seasonal workers. In contrast, Walmart has cut back significantly on its holiday hiring, with plans to add just 40,000 seasonal workers to its payroll this year, significantly less than the 150,000 workers it planned to hire in 2021. However, Walmart may not need as many seasonal workers this year because it has been pursuing multiple initiatives to attract employees throughout 2022.
