Amazon announced on October 20 that it plans to hire more than 300,000 full-time, part-time and seasonal workers to prepare for the peak shopping season. In 2025, Amazon had committed to 250,000 holiday positions, meaning this year's figure represents a 20% year-over-year increase.
Major U.S. parcel delivery company United Parcel Service Inc (NYSE: UPS) announced it will hire 100,000 seasonal workers in 2026, a nearly 10% decline from its 2025 holiday hiring target. Andy Challenger, chief revenue officer at outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, said these corporate hiring announcements, combined with fewer retailers publicly disclosing their hiring numbers in advance, have led experts to view this year's seasonal hiring signals as "mixed."
In an interview with Make It, Challenger said, "I don't think we're going to see the explosive seasonal hiring we saw in 2021 and 2022." But after Amazon released its hiring plan, he added, "There's reason to be a little more optimistic than our initial assessment."
A report released on October 15 by the Hiring Lab, the economic research arm of job platform Indeed, showed that as of September 30, 2026, the number of seasonal job postings on the platform had already exceeded the level seen during the same period in 2025. Experts say the growth was driven primarily by non-retail positions. According to Indeed's report, measured by the number of job postings, seasonal hiring in 2026 rose 10% compared with 2025. Researchers searched Indeed and other job sites for seasonal positions, counting any posting whose title contained at least one holiday-related keyword.
Laura Ullrich, Indeed's senior economist, told Make It that the data covers "the vast majority of positions," including listings that were not paid for on the Indeed platform. Speaking about Amazon's hiring plan, Challenger said that while many retailers remain silent about their own seasonal hiring plans, "we're also seeing some positive signals. But UPS's hiring scale has edged down slightly, and goods export data has also weakened somewhat."
A New Seasonal Hiring Playbook for Retail
Retail has long dominated seasonal hiring, but its hold has weakened. According to Indeed data, retail positions accounted for 66% of all seasonal jobs in 2019; today, retail accounts for 61% of all seasonal job opportunities. Warehouse and loading positions made up just 3.5% of seasonal job postings in 2019; as of September 30, 2026, they represented 9% of all holiday hiring postings. Among the major categories of retail, sales, customer service, transportation and food service, warehouse roles have seen the fastest growth.
Indeed's report also noted that the five most in-demand non-retail positions are: customer service representatives, unloaders, delivery drivers, photographers and warehouse stockers. Indeed experts say the shift in the structure of seasonal hiring reflects how e-commerce has reshaped holiday shopping patterns. According to statistics site Statista, 87% of Americans shop online, and experts predict e-commerce retail sales will maintain annual growth of 6% through 2030. Bain & Company forecasts that U.S. holiday retail sales in 2026 will hit a historic milestone, surpassing $1 trillion for the first time.
But Challenger said that figure "doesn't translate directly into growth in unit sales, revenue or profit." Challenger explained that the forecast reflects that although high prices for essentials like food and gasoline are changing consumer behavior, inflation "hasn't completely discouraged consumers' willingness to shop during the holidays." Ullrich noted that to prepare for the holiday season, retailers are posting more permanent part-time positions to replace traditional seasonal roles. In September 2025, non-seasonal permanent part-time positions accounted for 38% of retail job postings; this year, that share has reached 49% of the holiday retail hiring market. In September 2026, seasonal positions accounted for only 20% of all holiday hiring postings by retailers, a decline from the same period in 2025.
Facing sales expectations, retailers are taking differing approaches to seasonal hiring. Halloween retailer Spirit Halloween announced as early as June 11 that it would hire 52,000 seasonal workers; craft retailer Michaels plans to recruit more than 10,000 employees for the holiday season. Major supermarket chain Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT) said it will prioritize reassigning existing employees before hiring seasonal workers, and the company did not disclose a specific hiring number. Ullrich views the retail industry's shift toward hiring more permanent staff as "a positive development," saying retailers "realize they need more year-round employees on staff."
Job Seekers' Interest in Seasonal Roles Rises
Demand for seasonal work among job seekers is also high. Indeed platform data shows that in 2026, searches containing the keywords "seasonal" and "holiday" on desktop computers rose 28% compared with 2025, reflecting workers' desire to earn extra income at year-end. A report published by Indeed on June 9 showed that 16% of active job seekers already hold multiple jobs. On average, job seekers working multiple jobs triple their number of applications in the month before landing a second job. Workers in service-industry roles, which have high turnover and unstable scheduling, are the most likely to seek an additional job. Among active job seekers, kitchen back-of-house workers make up the highest proportion of those seeking extra work, at 17%.
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