Amazon to double holiday hiring to 200,000

NEW YORK – Amazon plans to hire 200,000 people for the busy holiday shopping season, double the number of workers it hired a year ago.

The hiring spree is a sign of how quickly the online shopping giant is growing. To keep up with online orders, Amazon has been opening more warehouses, package sorting hubs and delivery stations. It’s also working to speed up delivery for its Prime members to one day from two.

Other retailers plan to hire in smaller numbers. Target said it would hire 130,000 this year, up 4% from a year. And Kohl’s planned to hire 90,000, about the same from 2018.

In the past year, Amazon said it has promoted about 19,000 workers who packed and shipped orders to manager or supervisor roles.