Amazon Plans to Hire 250,000 More Workers, Increase Wages Ahead of Year-end Holiday Rush

Amazon Plans to Hire 250,000 More Workers, Increase Average Hourly Pay Ahead of Year-end Holidays Rush — A photo taken on August 8, 2023 shows the logo of US multinational technology and logistics company Amazon at their distribution center in Dortmund, western Germany. Amazon has announced its plan to hire 250,000 workers to manage the expected year-end holiday rush for 2023. INA FASSBENDER/AFP via Getty Images

Amazon announced Tuesday (September 19) that it would be hiring 250,000 employees in the US to manage the expected year-end holiday rush.

The company has also decided to bump the average hourly pay for warehouse and delivery workers.

CNBC reported that the Jeff Bezos-helmed firm typically increases its headcount around the final quarter of the year to keep up with the surge in demand caused by its peak holiday shopping season, including the hiring of temporary workers for such a purpose.

Amazon's Year-end Holiday Hiring More Than 2022

The increase in hiring numbers for Q4 2023 was a significant step from previous years. In 2022 alone, the company said it targeted to bring on 150,000 people to staff up for the year-end holidays.

The hiring would include full-time, part-time, and seasonal warehouse and delivery personnel, Amazon added. Hourly wages for those roles would range between $17 and $28, and the company is offering sign-on bonuses worth $1,000 to $3,000 in some locations.

On the other hand, Target also announced plans to add 100,000 seasonal workers in the same period, Forbes reported.

Slight Increase in Average Pay

Amazon also announced a slight increase in the average hourly salary of warehouse and delivery employees from $19 to $20.50, with some locations offering employees up to $28 per hour. The company also announced a delivery driver wage hike last week at its conference for members of its contracted delivery partner program.

The increase in the average starting pay for frontline workforce was a recurring trend for Amazon in recent years, amid growing labor tensions, unionization attempts by its workhouse and delivery workers, and lawsuits about its injury record, among other things.

Amazon, which is the second largest employer in the U.S. behind Walmart, had approximately 1.46 million employees globally as of the end of the second quarter.