Amazon to Add 120,000 Holiday Workers, Same as Last Year
October 12 2017 - 12:13PM
Dow Jones News
By Laura Stevens
Amazon.com Inc. said Thursday it plans to add 120,000 seasonal
employees to help fill holiday orders at its warehouses, nearly
doubling that segment of its workforce and topping hiring plans at
other major retailers.
Still, it is the same number of temporary workers the online
retailer brought on last year, reflecting hiring already done this
year toward meeting its goal of adding 100,000 full-time and 30,000
part-time workers through mid-2018. Amazon plans to retain some of
the workers, which would help it keep building toward that
number.
Supply-chain experts say hiring this year will be more
competitive due to near-record-low unemployment, requiring
retailers and logistics companies to offer higher wages and other
perks.
Amazon got an early start. In August -- right before seasonal
hiring traditionally starts -- the company held a job fair online
and in a dozen cities to hire 50,000 new permanent employees in a
day. It received about 20,000 applications the day of, and has
since filled all the jobs, a spokeswoman said.
Amazon said it employs more than 125,000 full-time workers at
more than 75 fulfillment warehouses across the U.S. -- a number
likely to be updated when the company reports third-quarter
earnings in the coming weeks. Already, Amazon has warned it will be
a quarter with heavy spending, in part due to o pening new
warehouses.
United Parcel Service Inc. has said it would hire 95,000
workers, also on par with last year, aiming to increase operational
efficiency with the same number of workers even as the number of
packages it ships grows. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. plans to give its
in-store employees more hours, but also add 5,000 extra seasonal
workers at its e-commerce business.
Macy's Inc. plans to increase seasonal hires at its warehouses
by 20% to 18,000, although overall seasonal hiring at the retailer
is down slightly.
Write to Laura Stevens at laura.stevens@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 12, 2017 11:58 ET (15:58 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN)
Historical Stock Chart
From Aug 2024 to Sep 2024
Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN)
Historical Stock Chart
From Sep 2023 to Sep 2024