Amazon plans to hire 150,000 workers ahead of holiday shopping season
By Catherine Thorbecke, CNN Business
Amazon said Thursday it plans to hire 150,000 new employees across the United States to meet demand ahead of the busy holiday shopping season.
The openings, which include full-time, seasonal and part-time roles, range from packing and picking to sorting and shipping, the company said. The announcement comes just days before Amazon is set to hold another Prime Day shopping event.
Amazon ramps up hiring each holiday season, but this year it is doing so in a tight labor market and with rising inflation putting more pressure on companies to raise wages.
Last week, Amazon said it would raise hourly wages for warehouse and delivery workers. With the increase, Amazon employees can, on average, earn more than $19 an hour based on the position and location in the United States, up from an average of $18 previously.
On Thursday, the company said it will provide additional sign-on bonuses for the newly announced holiday positions, ranging from $1,000 to $3,000 in select locations. Some of the states with the highest number of jobs available include California, Illinois, Texas.
The hiring news also comes amid multiple high-profile unionization drives at Amazon warehouses, including at facilities in Alabama and New York. The Amazon Labor Union secured a historic victory in forming the first US labor union at a facility in Staten Island, New York earlier this year. Next week, workers at a separate facility near Albany, New York, are slated to vote to join the same grassroots worker group.
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