As it struggles to extend next-day delivery for customers, Amazon said it wants to hire 250,000 additional U.S. workers for the holiday shopping season, 67% more than it hired in the previous two years.
As a result of forecasts for lower consumer spending in 2023, other U.S. retailers claim they would hire fewer people in their stores and warehouses this year. Amazon’s plans conflict with these claims. Due to worries about rising prices, forecasters anticipate that holiday sales will be half as high as they were last year.
Challenger, Grey, and Christmas, a research firm, predict that seasonal hiring would decline to its lowest level since 2008 as a result of rising expenses and low consumer confidence.
On Tuesday, Target announced that it would retain its yearly hiring goal of 100,000 employees for the holiday shopping season. Target also intends to start promoting sales in October.
For the 2018 holiday season, Macy’s claimed it would hire more than 38,000 full- and part-time employees, down from the previous year.
Walmart, a major American retailer, has not yet revealed its holiday hiring plans. But in 2022, it employed 40,000 seasonal workers.
Amazon has increased recruiting as it gears up for its enlarged fall Prime Event, which will take place from October 10 to 11. This comes after it added 50 new fulfilment centres, delivery stations, and same-day delivery in the United States.
The e-commerce behemoth is urging its merchants to offer discounts during Amazon’s Prime Event, a move that may persuade some thrifty buyers to get out their wallets and splurge on gifts well in advance of the Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping days.
Full-time, part-time, and seasonal fulfilment workers are all included in Amazon’s seasonal hiring, the company stated.
In comparison to colleagues who received $3,000 bonuses in specific areas in 2022 and 2021, new seasonal workers employed to pick, sort, pack, and ship orders will receive sign-on bonuses between $1,000 and $3,000 in select locations, the company said.
In comparison to the $19 hourly rate paid to workers last year, Amazon said it will pay its seasonal employees an average of $17 to $28 per hour depending on their jobs and regions.
The Seattle-based online retailer announced that it will allocate $1.3 billion for wage hikes for transportation and fulfilment staff this year.
Including our annual wage investments, a fulfilment or transportation employee who joins us today will experience a 13% pay boost over the following three years, according to a statement from John Felton, senior vice president of worldwide operations at Amazon.
Following a wave of tech layoffs, Amazon fired 27,000 employees in its advertising, cloud computing, and human resources divisions early this year, accounting for about 9% of its total workforce.