Amazon will hire 250,000 new employees to prepare for holiday demand

Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN) just revealed plans of hiring a quarter-million new employees in the United States to prepare for the holiday demand.

Amazon is onboarding a lot more employees than last year

The 250,000 new hires will include both full-time and part-time employees as well as seasonal warehouse and delivery workers. According to John Felton – the Senior Vice President of Amazon’s Worldwide Operations:

Whether someone is looking for a short-term way to make extra money, or is hoping to take their first step toward a fulfilling and rewarding career at Amazon, there’s a role available for them.

The retail giant had hired 150,000 new workers before the holiday season last year.

Earlier this month, Amazon.com Inc partnered with BMW on its next generation automated driving platform as Invezz covered here.

Amazon is increasing the average hourly pay as well

On Tuesday, the Nasdaq-listed firm also said it was increasing hourly pay for its delivery and warehouse employees.

On average, those workers will now be paid $20.50 an hour versus $19 per hour last year. Its SVP John Felton also said in a statement today:

A fulfilment or transportation employee who starts with us today will see a 13% increase in pay over the next three year – like more, including our annual wage investments.

Amazon will even pay as much as $28 an hour to its employees as some of its locations. A $1,000 or $3,000 worth of sing-on bonus for the new hires is on the table as well.    Last year, its delivery and warehouse employees made $19 an hour on average.