The Thursday news demonstrates that the e-commerce giant is approaching Christmas preparations less cautiously than Walmart, which announced this month that it would hire 40,000 American workers for the holidays, down from 150,000 in 2021.
Last year, Amazon, which generally expands operations around the holidays, advertised for the same amount of seasonal workers. Target and UPS, two of its rivals, have stated that they will likewise follow last year’s employment practices over the holiday season.
According to Seattle-based Amazon, depending on their position and region within the United States, employees can make an average wage of $19 per hour. In an effort to recruit more workers in a competitive labour market, the company had already stated last week that it would increase the average compensation for frontline personnel by $1. Additionally, it promised to make modifications to enable employees to get payments more frequently than once or twice each month.
Analysts predict that the uncertain economic climate will have an influence on the holiday shopping season as frugal consumers negotiate higher prices for food and other needs amid high inflation and rising interest rates.
Digital sales are expected to hit $265 billion in the United States in November and December, according to Salesforce, which analyzes data from online retailers.
According to Salesforce, despite a solid performance compared to pre-pandemic levels, holiday sales will stay practically unchanged compared to the previous year, increasing only 3%. Analysts remark that rising pricing can potentially result in a decline in overall orders. Additionally, because of the 8.3% inflation rate now, real sales would decline for shops.
Retailers are providing greater discounts early in the year to suit cash-strapped customers who are anticipated to spread out their holiday shopping. The following week, Amazon will host its second Prime Day-like sales event of the year, marking the first time the business has held a significant sales event twice in a single year.
As Americans moved away from the pandemic-related rise in online buying, Amazon’s overall retail revenue has lagged in recent months. The corporation virtually doubled its employment to 1.6 million people and nearly doubled its physical footprint in the last two years due to the pandemic-fueled demand. When the pandemic’s worst symptoms subsided, the business discovered that it had too much space and too many employees.
In recent months, it has reduced the amount of warehouse space it has available by subleasing some of its warehouses and postponing or cancelling development on others. It said that between March and June, it also additionally shed about 100,000 workers.
Amazon is increasing staffing at its facilities but reducing spending elsewhere. The corporation will apply a hiring freeze on the corporate side of its retail business for the remainder of the year, according to a story in The New York Times on Tuesday.
