Amazon plans to hire 300,000 U.S. workers for holiday season

Amazon wants to add 300,000 workers before Americans begin turning cardboard boxes into a major feature of their front porches.

The company said Tuesday that it plans to hire seasonal, part-time and full-time employees across the United States for the 2026 holiday season. That is 20% more than Amazon hired during the same period last year, according to the company.

Why it matters: The hiring push lands as the National Retail Federation forecasts U.S. holiday retail sales will exceed $1 trillion for the first time this year. Amazon is not the whole retail economy, but 300,000 jobs is a large signal that the company expects a lot of packages to move between now and December.

Amazon said seasonal workers will earn an average of $20 an hour. In September, it announced that its minimum starting wage for full-time workers would rise to $20 an hour. The company says full-time employees make roughly $24 an hour on average.

The catch: The health care upgrade for seasonal workers starts in 2027, not this season. Beginning then, seasonal employees working at least 30 hours a week will qualify for the same health care benefits as full-time workers, Amazon said. That is useful news for next year's holiday hires, less so for someone applying this week.

Amazon said it will post job listings weekly from October through December. The openings cover seasonal, part-time and full-time roles, so the headline number does not mean 300,000 temporary jobs.

What to know: Amazon's pay figures are company-reported averages, not a promise that every opening pays the same. Applicants will need to check individual listings for the job, location, schedule and wage attached to it.

Amazon says fresh listings will keep appearing through December, when the holiday delivery rush gets less theoretical.