Amazon.com
is hiring 100,000 more seasonal workers this holiday season than it did last year, bucking concerns that holiday hiring was set to slow this year.
Amazon
(ticker: AMZN) is hiring 250,000 employees across its supply chain in preparation for the holiday demand surge, the company said Tuesday. The roles will include full time, part time, and seasonal placements, Amazon said.
Last season, the retail and cloud firm hired 150,000 employees, roughly the same number Amazon hired in 2021.
The company is investing $1.3 billion this year toward pay raises for customer fulfillment and transportation employees, bringing up the average pay for those roles to over $20.50 per hour. Some locations will offer as much as $28 per hour.
Retailers often announce the number of workers they’re hiring every year as a way of attracting new talent. Many analysts track the announcements to get a read on the health of the labor market heading into the end of the year.
Challenger, Gray & Christmas had predicted that holiday hiring would slow this year, however, as retailers juggle slowing consumer demand with rising labor costs. This year, seasonal-hiring announcements have been “slow to occur,” the firm said, which may make it harder to get an early read on the industry.
Retail competitor
Target
(TGT) said Tuesday it was hiring 100,000 seasonal workers, the same as last year, while
Macy’s
(M) said it was looking to onboard 38,000 temporary hires, down from 41,000 a year ago.
Many companies have also unveiled their plans for holiday deals this week. Target and
Best Buy’s
(BBY) deals start Oct. 1,
Walmart’s
(WMT) “Holiday Kickoff” event starts Oct. 9, and Amazon’s Prime Day Sale Event is set for Oct. 10 and 11.
Write to Sabrina Escobar at [email protected]
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