Amazon Plans to Hire 250,000 Seasonal Workers

By Arriana McLymore

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) plans to hire 250,000 transportation and warehouse workers this holiday shopping season, the same number as last year. E-commerce spending is expected to outpace overall holiday sales in the final quarter of 2024, the company stated on Thursday.

“Although there is an anticipated increase in the demand and the volume, we feel like the 250,000 is the right number to continue to grow and advance with our operations,” said Sandy Gordon, vice president of Global Operations Employee Experience at Amazon.

It remains unclear what percentage of the 250,000 seasonal workers—encompassing staff in sort centers, fulfillment centers, and delivery stations—will work in fulfillment centers or as transport employees. Transport employees will not include delivery service partners or their teams, according to a company spokesperson.

Online holiday shoppers are expected to spend a record $240.8 billion, up 4.9% from last year. Broader holiday spending is expected to rise modestly by 3.2%, according to a Mastercard (NYSE:MA) forecast.

While Amazon’s hiring plans remain flat compared to last year, the company is still ahead of competitor Target, which will hire 100,000 additional workers for the season.

U.S. retailers are grappling with a softer labor market, with expectations to add 520,000 new jobs during the holiday shopping season, a decrease from last year’s 564,200 job openings.

Amazon’s announcement follows news from the National Labor Relations Board, which claimed that the retail giant was a “joint employer” of drivers for contractor Battle Tested Strategies (BTS). The contractor’s drivers voted to join the International Brotherhood of Teamsters union last year.

An Amazon spokesperson stated that the Teamsters have “misrepresented the facts” amid accusations of retaliation against BTS for drivers unionizing.