Amazon holiday hiring is reaching sky-high levels - this year's tally will be about 120,000
With Thanksgiving only a few days away, American consumers and retailers are gearing up for the annual post-Turkey Day holiday spending bonanza. In preparation for the madness, Amazon has said it plans to hire some 120,000 seasonal employees at sites in 33 US states.
The e-commerce giant is bringing in extra people to work in its warehouses and customer service centers, and to work with some of its Prime service offerings, including Prime Pantry, which delivers everyday packaged goods to consumers. As we can see in this chart from Statista, the number of seasonal employees Amazon hires has grown considerably since 2012 as e-commerce has taken off.
Amazon seasonal workers have an entire culture of their own and include a group of traveling workers nicknamed "CamperForce." Primarily made up of retirees, the group lives in recreational vehicles and works 3 to 4 months in the fall and winter in preparation for the holidays.
This year's seasonal hires will be in addition to the massive number of people Amazon has already added to its workforce. The company's employee base swelled by 159,500 people in just three months between the end of June and the end of September this year.
