Amazon said Monday that it will hire 250,000 seasonal workers for the holiday months, the same total as in 2023 and 2024. Meanwhile, Amazon stock gained in a bounceback day for stocks following a sell-off Friday.
The seasonal positions include full and part-time roles across its fulfillment and transportation operations in the U.S., with temporary workers earning an average of $19 per hour, Amazon said in a blog post Monday. Amazon had also said it would hire 250,000 seasonal workers in 2023 and 2024. Analysts often use Amazon's holiday hiring projections as an indicator for the company's expectations for the busy November and December shopping period.
This year, Amazon stands out simply by maintaining its holiday hiring levels. Holiday hiring this year is expected to fall to its lowest point since 2009, according to a recent report from Challenger, Gray and Christmas. The outplacement firm noted that few major retailers had announced seasonal hiring plans as of mid-September.
"Seasonal employers are facing a confluence of factors this year: tariffs loom, inflationary pressures linger, and many companies continue to rely on automation and permanent staff instead of large waves of seasonal hires," Andy Challenger, senior vice president of Challenger, Gray and Christmas, said in the report.
The announcement comes shortly after Amazon wrapped up its annual Prime Big Deals Days discount event. Hosted on Tuesday and Wednesday, the promotion is a smaller, autumn version of Amazon's Prime Day discount event in the summer.
Meanwhile, analysts are forecasting a more challenging retail environment this holiday season. Consumers are weighing concerns about tariffs and the broader economy. Adobe projects that total U.S. online sales from November through December will growth 5.3% year over year. That's a slowdown from the roughly 8% year-over-year growth in 2024.
On the stock market today, Amazon stock is up 1.9% at 220.38 in recent action.
Amazon Stock: Q3 Earnings On Deck
Amazon will likely offer a clearer take on its expectations to close the year when the tech giant reports third-quarter results. The company is expected to reports its results later this month.
Overall, Amazon stock has been lagging the S&P 500 with a less than 1% overall gain year-to-date. It has been hit by concerns about tariffs and stiff competition for AI-related cloud business. Amazon stock is also the worst performer among the Magnificent Seven tech giant stocks.
Shares slumped Friday after President Donald Trump threatened new tariffs on Chinese imports. Amazon stock fell 5% that day. Shares are bouncing up from Amazon's 200-day moving average with Monday's gains.
In a note to clients Monday, Piper Sandler analyst Thomas Champion wrote that "while Amazon has lagged indexes, we're open-minded on the setup from here." He reiterated an overweight, or buy, call. He pointed to positive survey data for Amazon's cloud business and the expectation that Amazon's cloud operations should see greater benefit from the company's investment in the AI startup Anthropic.
