Amazon to Hire More Than 300,000 Workers for the Holiday Season

Amazon holiday hiring for 2026 will be the company’s largest in years, with more than 300,000 people to be hired for seasonal, part-time and full-time roles across its United States core operations network, Amazon announced on 20 October 2026. The figure is up from the 250,000 target the company set for each of the previous three holiday seasons, a rise of about 20 percent. The roles cover the warehouses and delivery sites that move orders from shelf to doorstep, and new openings will be posted weekly from October through December. Applicants can sign up for job alerts at the company’s local jobs site or by texting a short code.

Seasonal employees will earn an average of $20 an hour, Amazon said, with full-time core operations employees earning a minimum starting wage of $20 an hour and average hourly pay across the core operations workforce at nearly $24 an hour. From 1 January 2027, seasonal employees who work at least 30 hours a week will have access to healthcare coverage from their first day on the job, with plan options starting at $5 a week and $5 copays. Seasonal employees hired before that date will gain access to coverage on 1 January. The company said seasonal roles can fill quickly and can lead to full-time work.

What Amazon holiday hiring says about seasonal work

Amazon’s announcement stood out because the wider retail hiring picture was weaker. Seasonal retail hiring was expected to fall below last year’s 450,000 jobs, which would mark the lowest holiday recruitment since 2008, according to the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas. Spirit Halloween and Michaels had announced plans to hire 52,000 and 10,000 seasonal workers respectively, while Walmart and Target had not announced a national number, saying they would rely on existing staff and local hiring. Amazon’s increase was therefore the exception rather than the rule.

For job seekers, the Amazon roles offer a clear entry point into seasonal work, with weekly postings through December and a stated path to permanent roles for some workers. The day-one healthcare change from January is also significant, because seasonal workers have often had to wait months for benefits.

Source: Amazon