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| Photo Credit: AP. |
NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon will hire 150,000 full-time, part-time and seasonal employees across its warehouses ahead of the holiday season.
The
announcement, made Thursday, shows the e-commerce behemoth is taking a less
conservative approach to its holiday planning than Walmart, which said last
month it would hire 40,000 U.S. workers for the holidays, compared to 150,000
in 2021.
Amazon,
which typically beefs up its operations during the holidays, was looking for
the same number of seasonal employees last year. Its other competitors, UPS and
Target, have said their holiday hiring plans will also remain in line with the
prior year.
Seattle-based
Amazon said workers can earn an average pay of $19 per hour, based on their
position and location within the U.S. The company had announced last week it
would raise its average pay for frontline workers by a dollar, a move aimed
towards attracting more employees in a tight labor market. It also said it
would make changes so employees can get paid more frequently than one or twice
a month.
Analysts
expect the holiday shopping season to be impacted by the uncertain economic
environment, as budget-conscious shoppers navigate higher prices for food and
other necessities amid high inflation and rising interest rates.
Salesforce,
which analyzes online shopping data, forecasts digital sales to reach $265
billion in the U.S. in November and December. That means holiday sales will
remain essentially flat compared to last year, bumping up only 3%, despite a
strong showing compared to pre-pandemic levels, Salesforce said. Analysts note
higher prices could also lead to fewer total orders. And the current inflation
rate of 8.3% means retailers would see a decrease in real sales.
To
accommodate cash-strapped consumers expected to spread out their holiday
shopping, retailers are offering more discounts - and doing it much earlier.
Next week, Amazon will have its second Prime Day-like discount event of the year,
the first time the company is holding a major sales event twice in one year
following its Prime Day in July. Target and Walmart have said they’ll also
offer deals this month.
Amazon’s
overall retail business has been sluggish in the past few months as Americans
shifted away from the pandemic-induced spike in online shopping. The
pandemic-fueled demand was so high in the last two years that it drove the
company to double its physical footprint and nearly double its workforce to 1.6
million. When the worst of the pandemic eased, the company found itself with
too much space and too many workers. It’s been reducing its warehouse capacity
in the past few months by subleasing some of its warehouses, delaying or
canceling construction on others. Between March and June, it said it also
reduced its workforce by roughly 100,000 through attrition.
Though
Amazon is boosting hiring at its warehouses, it’s tightening its budget
elsewhere. On Tuesday, The New York Times reported the company is implementing
a hiring freeze on the corporate side of its retail business for the rest of
the year.