Amazon, UPS hiring over 100,000 seasonal workers for holiday season

Many are struggling in the job market, and with unemployment benefits running out and fear of further job furloughs looming, it’s an all around difficult time. But there may be some good news for those looking for work.

Amazon is filling 100,000 seasonal job openings as it begins to ramp up for the holiday season, and UPS is also trying to fill 100,000 seasonal roles, offering job fairs this weekend, reports The Seattle Times.

“These are decent jobs. The Amazon warehouses I know have a reputation of being, not necessarily sweatshops — they certainly have a paid minimum wage of $15 an hour. My understanding is that they’ve tried — after a lot of bad publicity — to reform the way they handle their work internally,” said KIRO Nights host Mike Lewis.

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FedEx had also previously announced plans to hire 70,000 seasonal workers.

The companies hiring have stipulated that career opportunities could grow from the seasonal jobs.

“If UPS is hiring, and FedEx is hiring, and Amazon is hiring, the United States Postal Service is also hiring at this particular point,” Lewis said. “So for those of you who are looking to make a little bit of extra cash right now, those are three places to work that certainly pay at least minimum wage, if not better, and in many cases offer benefits. This may be a way to sort of get you through the holiday season. And who knows? UPS and FedEx and Amazon certainly say that they see these jobs not just as filler for seasonal, but as potential for additional longer term work.”

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