Five of the biggest US employers plan to add 470,400 seasonal workers this holiday season, 26% more than at this point last year, led by a record 300,000 at Amazon and 100,000 at UPS, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas. That’s a rebound from last year’s record low, when UPS didn’t announce any seasonal hiring, but it’s still well short of the 660,150 seasonal jobs companies announced in 2024. The industries doing the hiring are also cutting permanent jobs, with tech, which includes Amazon, leading all sectors at 171,501 layoffs announced so far in 2026 and retailers cutting 3,692 jobs in October, their most in a month since mid-2025. Amazon and UPS alone have announced about 60,000 permanent job cuts since late last year.
