Employers announced plans to hire 444,692 workers in October, up 57% from 283,138 a year earlier and the most for any October since at least 2009, according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas. Seasonal jobs from just two companies drove the number: Amazon announced 300,000 and UPS 100,000, which together make up 400,000 of the October total. Every other employer combined announced 44,692.
For anyone looking for holiday work, or hoping a relative lands a job before Christmas, the number is encouraging but narrower than it looks. It counts announced intentions, not people already on a payroll, and it leans heavily on two names. A household counting on a seasonal paycheck should look at who is actually hiring where they live.
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Why did October’s hiring plans jump so far?
Timing explains part of it. Challenger said seasonal announcements used to land in September, when they made up at least 60% of the September-October total each year from 2012 through 2024. That share fell to 29% in 2025 and to 17% this year, as both Amazon and UPS waited until October, according to TheStreet’s report on the data.
September was the opposite. Employers announced just 90,787 hiring plans that month, the lowest September total since 2011. Counted together, the two months look far less dramatic than October by itself.
By industry, technology led October with 300,252 planned hires, nearly all of them Amazon’s seasonal jobs, followed by transportation at 100,000 and retail at 13,300. For the year so far, technology leads with 322,613 planned hires, transportation has 101,505 and retail 79,857, Challenger said.
How big are Amazon’s and UPS’s seasonal plans?
Amazon’s 300,000 seasonal hires are 50,000 more than the 250,000 it announced in each of the previous three years, and Challenger says it is the largest single seasonal announcement the firm has tracked. UPS announced 100,000 seasonal hires after making no announcement last year.
The Amazon jobs pay at least $20 an hour for full-time workers, and $20 an hour is the average for seasonal positions, according to CNN Newsource reporting. The company said total compensation, including the value of benefits, averages more than $30 an hour. Open seasonal positions are posted at hiring.amazon.com/search/seasonal-jobs.
Is the rest of the seasonal market healthy?
Not really. Seasonal hiring plans through October total 470,400, up 26% from 372,520 in the same stretch of 2025, which was the lowest since Challenger began tracking seasonal plans in 2012. They remain well below the 660,150 announced in 2024.
Only five companies have announced seasonal hiring this year, compared with 11 at this point last year. Seasonal roles make up 72% of 2026 hiring plans, so the broader hiring picture is thin once Amazon and UPS are set aside. Year to date, plans total 655,304, up 34% from 488,077 through October 2025.
Seasonal roles also account for nearly 60% of the 167,227 increase in hiring plans over last year, Challenger said. Take those positions out and the gain over 2025 shrinks to a much smaller number, which is why the headline total says less about broad hiring than it first appears to.
What is Challenger’s read on employers?
Andy Challenger, workplace expert and chief revenue officer for Challenger, Gray and Christmas, said, “Companies want the flexibility to meet holiday demand without adding permanent headcount.” That flexibility cuts both ways. A seasonal job pays now but usually ends in January, and employers that avoid permanent hires leave workers without a long-term position.
He also described the climate as “a low-fire environment,” saying “employers are holding on to the workers they have heading into the holidays,” according to TheStreet. Challenger counted 43,994 announced job cuts in October, the lowest October total since 2023 and down 71% from October 2025.
One large exit sits outside that count. Microsoft offered voluntary exit packages to 60,000 employees in October, but Challenger does not count such offers until employees accept them or the company sets a target.
For a worker, the pay is the practical question. At the $20 an hour Amazon cites as its seasonal average, someone working 25 hours a week for six weeks would gross $3,000 before taxes, a simple example that will vary with the hours a worker actually gets.
How does this fit with the government’s jobs report?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday that payroll employment rose by 165,000 in October and that the unemployment rate was 4.1%. Challenger’s hiring plans and the government’s payroll count measure different things. The first is what companies say they intend to do, and the second is how many jobs were actually added.
That difference matters for anyone watching the labor market for signs of strength. An announcement of 300,000 seasonal jobs does not mean 300,000 people have been hired, and many of those positions may go to people who already hold other jobs or who worked for the same company last year.
Counting on holiday pay while prices and bills stay high?
Seasonal jobs from Amazon and UPS made up 400,000 of October’s 444,692 announced hires, and most such positions end after the holidays. A household that treats a temporary paycheck as steady income can find the money gone by January while taxes, Medicare costs and the house still need paying.
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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
Warren Cohen is a finance writer based in Phoenix, Arizona, covering personal finance topics including credit, banking, and beginner investing. He earned his degree in business administration from Arizona State University and began his career working in consumer finance, where he gained direct experience with lending and credit systems. He now writes for personal finance websites and fintech platforms, focusing on clear, practical content that helps readers make informed financial decisions.
