Amazon Holiday Hiring Hits Record With Day-One Health Care

Amazon is hiring for the holidays at a scale it has not attempted in years. Amazon holiday hiring will reach more than 300,000 seasonal, part-time and full-time workers across the company's United States core operations network for the festive season, according to Reuters. That target is roughly twenty percent larger than the two hundred fifty thousand workers hired for each of the past three holiday seasons, and it is the largest seasonal hiring goal in the company's history, GeekWire reported.

New roles will be posted weekly from October through December, the company said. Seasonal workers earn twenty dollars an hour on average, while full-time core operations staff start at a minimum of twenty dollars an hour, with average hourly pay of nearly twenty-four dollars across that workforce, according to USA Today. Average total compensation for full-time employees tops thirty-two dollars an hour once benefits are included, the company said.

A hiring push that runs against the retail grain

The timing stands out because much of the rest of retail is pulling back. United Parcel Service said it plans to hire more than one hundred thousand seasonal workers, roughly nine percent fewer than last year, according to Reuters, after cutting back the Amazon volume it handles. Outplacement firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas expects even fewer seasonal retail hires this year, GeekWire reported, citing automation and uncertain holiday spending as tariffs keep prices high. The National Retail Federation forecast holiday sales growth of more than four percent, to past one trillion dollars, Reuters reported.

Amazon's own delivery network explains part of the gap. Worldwide paid units grew seventeen percent year over year in the second quarter, GeekWire reported, citing the company's earnings release. The company also said more than forty percent more items were delivered same-day or overnight to Prime members in the first half of the year. New sites opening across the country also pushed the hiring target higher, a company spokesperson told GeekWire.

What the new benefits actually change

Starting at the beginning of next year, seasonal employees who work at least thirty hours a week will qualify for health care coverage on their very first day, the company said, with plan options starting at five dollars a week and five-dollar copays. Seasonal workers previously had to wait ninety days for coverage, a wait long enough that many holiday hires finished their seasonal jobs before becoming eligible, GeekWire reported. Employees hired before the new benefit takes effect will gain access on that date if they meet the eligibility rules, according to USA Today.

The company also recently gave every United States employee access to a grocery discount, USA Today reported. The discount covers ten percent off eligible grocery and everyday essentials ordered online, and twenty percent off in-store at Whole Foods Market, including the hot bar and salad bar, and it can be combined with Prime member discounts.

Target and Walmart have not announced national hiring goals, GeekWire reported, which leaves Amazon holiday hiring as the clearest public signal of how much labor a major retailer expects to need for the festive season. The contrast is sharpest against a year in which retailers added the fewest seasonal workers in almost two decades, a soft patch that makes Amazon's expansion stand out even more.

Walmart expanded health care benefits for its workforce the week before Amazon's announcement, Reuters reported, as surging health care expenses pressure Americans already facing rising living costs. The back-to-back moves show large employers competing on benefits as well as wages for seasonal staff, and they give job seekers a reason to compare the full package rather than the hourly rate alone.

For job seekers, the practical read is straightforward. A seasonal role now carries a twenty-dollar average hourly wage and health coverage that starts immediately for those working full-time hours. The company also pitches seasonal work as a route into permanent employment, Morningstar reported, with seasonal employees able to move into full-time roles. Hiring runs through December, so the final tally will not be clear until the season ends, and delivery speed in the peak shipping weeks of late November will show whether the record hiring target was enough.

Read the full reports from GeekWire and Reuters.