Amazon.
AMZN -0.54%
com Inc. plans to hire 150,000 people in its regular annual hiring spree to meet demand during the holiday shopping season.
The hiring target Amazon announced Thursday is the same as it had last year and comes as the e-commerce company has been struggling with slower sales. The company is seeking employees throughout its U.S. fulfillment network, which is responsible for sorting, packaging and delivering products.
Amazon said it would be hiring for full-time, seasonal and part-time positions. Its seasonal workers for the holidays typically stay through the end of the year.
The company is dealing with a tricky end to its year. It needs staff for what is its busiest stretch of the year while adjusting to slowing demand after a jump in online shopping throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.
Amazon said last week that it would increase the average starting pay for front-line warehouse employees from $18 an hour to $19 an hour, and it is also investing hundreds of millions of dollars to boost wages and other benefits for drivers who deliver its packages. As with last year, Amazon’s need for workers is up against a tight labor market.
Even as it staffs up for the holidays, Amazon has been looking for ways to cut costs in response to slowing sales. It has implemented a hiring freeze through the end of the year for corporate employees across its core retail division after having pared back head count earlier this year.
Amazon has also slowed down how fast it is opening new warehouses, with the company shutting down, calling off or pushing back the openings of dozens of facilities.
Walmart Inc.
WMT -0.93%
has scaled back its holiday hiring as consumer demand has fallen amid higher prices and strained household budgets. The company said last month that it planned to hire about 40,000 mostly seasonal employees for the holidays, far lower than the 150,000 permanent workers it sought last year.
Amazon’s overall head count has fluctuated this year. The company shed almost 100,000 employees during its second quarter to end the period with roughly 1.5 million staff members. Much of that reduction took place at its warehouses. During the previous holiday season, Amazon also sought to add 150,000 workers.
The company’s latest hiring plan was disclosed before Amazon hosts a Prime member sales event next week, the first time it has offered the sale twice in the same year. The “Prime Early Access Sale” is scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday. The company is hopeful that the event will boost fourth-quarter revenue.
Write to Sebastian Herrera at Sebastian.Herrera@wsj.com
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