Amazon plans to hire more than 300,000 US workers for the holiday season, up 20% from last year, with seasonal staff paid an average of $20 an hour. It is adding health cover for seasonal workers who stay into January. Overall US seasonal retail hiring is forecast to fall again.
Amazon plans to hire more than 300,000 people in the US for the holiday season, up from 250,000 last year, Bloomberg reported. The jobs include full-time, part-time and seasonal roles across its warehouse and delivery network.
Seasonal workers will earn an average of $20 an hour, Amazon said in a blog post on Tuesday. Full-time operations staff start at $20 an hour, with average pay of nearly $24.
Amazon is also offering health cover to seasonal staff who stay on and work at least 30 hours a week. Cover starts on 1 January, with plans from $5 a week. The move is meant to keep holiday hires on after the rush.
Amazon stands out in a weak holiday jobs market. Outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas expects US retailers to add about 450,000 seasonal jobs this year, HR Dive reported. That is below last year’s 461,500, which was already the lowest since 2008.
Walmart and Target have again not announced holiday hiring plans, Bloomberg said. UPS, which is shipping fewer Amazon parcels, plans to hire more than 100,000 seasonal workers, roughly in line with previous years.
“Almost every hiring announcement we’ve seen in the last three years is smaller and more surgical than the pre-pandemic playbook,” said Andy Challenger, the firm’s chief revenue officer.
The warehouse hiring push contrasts with Amazon’s office cuts. The company has laid off about 30,000 corporate staff since October 2025, and confirmed another small round earlier this month. In total, it has cut more than 57,000 corporate jobs since 2022.
Shoppers are expected to spend $275.1B online in the US in November and December, up 6.7% from last year, according to Adobe.