Amazon Plans to Hire 250,000 U.S. Delivery Workers for the Holidays Amid Declining Seasonal Hiring Nationwide Amazon is set to hire 250,000 U.S. work

Amazon Plans to Hire 250,000 U.S. Delivery Workers for the Holidays Amid Declining Seasonal Hiring Nationwide

Amazon is set to hire 250,000 U.S. workers to manage deliveries during the upcoming holiday season, even as analysts predict a sharp decline in overall seasonal hiring. This figure matches the company’s record-breaking holiday hiring totals from the past two years, as it adds a combination of regular, part-time, and seasonal positions to accommodate the anticipated surge in orders.

Amazon's hiring effort alone could account for more than half of all seasonal positions filled by U.S. retailers in the last quarter of 2025, according to data from Challenger, Gray & Christmas, an outplacement consulting firm.

Despite this, overall seasonal hiring is expected to fall to its lowest level in 16 years. Retailers are projected to create fewer than 500,000 jobs in the final three months of 2025, marking the smallest increase since 2009, when the economy was recovering from the Great Recession.

"Seasonal employers are facing a perfect storm of challenges this year: lingering inflation, looming tariffs, and an increasing reliance on automation and permanent staff over large-scale seasonal hiring," said Andrew Challenger, Senior Vice President at Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

In contrast to Amazon's bold hiring push, other retailers are proceeding with more cautious plans. For example, Bath & Body Works intends to hire 32,000 workers this season, but Challenger suggests that the cautious pace of such announcements indicates that many companies are not anticipating a significant holiday shopping surge.