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Amazon will once again beef up its workforce in the fourth quarter to handle the expected shopping surge that comes with the holidays. This year, though, it could be responsible for nearly half of all seasonal hiring in the retail sector. The retail giant says it plans to create 250,000 jobs in the U.S. That’s on par with the number of people it hired last yearand in 2023. That not only underscores Amazon’s standing among shoppers, but it also puts a spotlight on expected slower sales at some competitors. Seasonal hiring is nothing new. Every year as temperatures get brisker, retailers put the call out for workers looking to make some extra cash and help handle the expected stampede of shoppers. This year, though, outplacement services firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas estimates retailers will add fewer than 500,000 positions overall, the smallest level of seasonal hiring in 16 years. For comparison’s sake, retailers added 543,100 jobs in the fourth quarter of 2024. Amazon says it will be hiring for full-time, part-time, and seasonal positions in its search. Regular full- and part-time employees will earn an average of $23 per hour with benefits. Seasonal workers could earn more than $19 per hour. People interested in applying can peruse openings at amazon.com/localjobs, or text NEWJOB to 31432 to sign up for job alerts. Amazon suggests you apply quickly if you see a job that raises your curiosity. “We find that our seasonal roles are really popularoften filling up within minutes of being postedbecause they meet different needs for so many different people,” the company wrote. “For some, its a few months of extra income to support their families during the holidays. For others, its the first step in building a new career path.” While the numbers from Amazon are largely in line with expectations, the fact that the company is announcing how many seasonal hires it is planning is somewhat unusual in the retail space this year. Large competitors, such as Target, have opted not to disclose their total number of seasonal openings for 2025. (Last year, Target announced it would be bringing 100,000 people on board.) Kohl’s, too, has declined to give its hiring target number. Some smaller retail chains have given numbers, though. Bath & Body Works plans to bring on 32,000 workers, including 2,000 workers in distribution centers. And Spirit Halloween will hire 50,000 seasonal employees. The lack of big hiring announcements from retailers could indicate that they’re expecting consumers to be less eager to spend this holiday season. Tariffs have resulted in higher prices for everything from toys to decorations. Inflation is looming, and a weakening job market (beyond retail) could mute spending as well. While we could see a late hiring push if holiday sales surprise to the upside, the cautious pace of announcements so far suggests that companies are not betting on a big seasonal surge. This year may be more about doing more with less, said Andy Challenger, senior vice president at Challenger, Gray & Christmas. The National Retail Federation (NRF) predicts U.S. holiday retail sales will grow between 2.9% and 3.4%. That’s slightly lower than last year’s gain. All totaled, the group expects consumers to spend between $5.42 trillion and $5.48 trillion this year. “Significant policy uncertainty is weighing on consumer and business confidence, NRF president and CEO Matthew Shay said. Analyst surveys back that thinking up. A survey of 367 U.S. consumers by Gartner found that 40% of shoppers expect to see fewer discounts this year and 75% expect to have to spend more to get presents for friends and loved ones due to higher prices at retailers. PricewaterhouseCoopers, meanwhile, said over 80% of consumers plan to cut back on seasonal spending over the next six months.
Category:
E-Commerce
The Big Apple is taking on the companies behind Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube, accusing them of public nuisance and spurring a youth mental health crisis in the city. In a 327-page lawsuit filed last week in the Southern District of New York, the city of New Yorkalong with its school districts and health departmentalleges that gross negligence on the part of Meta, Alphabet, Snap, and ByteDance has hooked kids on social media through algorithms that wield user data as a weapon against children and fuel the addiction machine. Over one-third of 13- to 17-year-olds report using one of these social media platforms almost constantly and admit this is too much, according to the complaint. Yet more than half struggle to cut back on their social media use, the complaint finds. In January 2024, New York City’s health commissioner declared social media a public health hazard, placing a strain on the citys resources as taxpayer dollars went toward addressing the resulting youth mental health crisis, the complaint says. The ripple effects of the teen behavioral health crisisincluding depression, anxiety, substance use disorder, disordered eating, behavioral problems, and ADD/ADHDare estimated to reach up to $185 billion in lifetime medical costs and $3 trillion in lifetime lost productivity and wages, according to the nonprofit United Hospital Fund. The city alleges that the platforms’ algorithms are designed to keep users scrolling, contributing to sleep loss, chronic absenteeism, and risk-taking behaviors. “Social media use by teens has recently been implicated in alarming increases in dangerous and even deadly off-campus activity in New York City,” the lawsuit alleges. The suit singles out the phenomenon known as “subway surfing.” This trend is inspired by the popular mobile game Subway Surfers, in which young kids and teens catch rides atop moving trains, often with fatal consequences. Just this month two girls, ages 12 and 13, died after climbing on top of a Brooklyn-bound J train and being struck by a low-hanging beam. “Leaders and transportation authorities have grappled with the challenges of subway surfing for decades. Videos encouraging this kind of dangerous activity violate our policies, and we remove them when we become aware of them, a Meta spokesperson tells Fast Company. We will continue to work with MTA to address this issue, and will vigorously defend ourselves against this suit.” New York City is among the largest plaintiffs to join other governments, school districts, and individuals pursuing around 2,050 similar lawsuits. These lawsuits fundamentally misunderstand how YouTube works, and the allegations are simply not true, José Castaeda, a Google spokesperson, tells Fast Company. YouTube is a streaming service where people come to watch everything from live sports to podcasts to their favorite creators, primarily on TV screens, not a social network where people go to catch up with friends. He continued: Weve also developed dedicated tools like Supervised Experiences for young people, guided by child safety experts, that give families control. Fast Company has reached out to Snap and ByteDance for comment. For decades, tech giants have been shielded from lawsuits in the U.S. by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which protects social media platforms from liability for third-party content. However, this case focuses not on content, but on product design and addictive features. “Defendants should be held to account for the harms their conduct has inflicted on New York City youth and on the NYC Plaintiffs’ educational and public health ecosystems,” the plaintiffs wrote in the complaint. “As it stands now, NYC Plaintiffs are left to abate the nuisance and foot the bill.”
Category:
E-Commerce
OpenAI and Broadcom have formed a multibillion-dollar partnership to develop OpenAI-designed chips. Under the deal, OpenAI will design the chips to its own specifications and Broadcom will manage the development and fabrication of the chips, as well as help with their deployment. The companies plan to deploy enough chips to require 10 gigawatts of electrical power beginning in mid-2026, and running through 2029. Broadcom stock jumped almost 10% on the announcement Monday. The deal marks the second major move by OpenAI to reduce its dependence on Nvidia, which now dominates the AI chip marketthe company announced a partnership with chipmaker AMD last week. The Broadcom partnership is part of a many-pronged effort by OpenAI to dramatically scale up the computing power it uses to train and operate AI models. Within its Stargate initiative to add data centers, the company has attracted large investments from Softbank, Oracle, Nvidia, AMD, and MGX. Coreweave, Microsoft, and ARM will play supporting roles. OpenAI also signed a $300 billion deal with Oracle to buy computing power within existing Oracle data centers. The massive infrastructure investments represent the largest single force buoying up the U.S. stock market. AI companies and their investors believe that generative AI systems are about to revolutionize the way companies do business, from accounting to engineering to operations. AI may prove to be a transformative technology wave on the order of the internet or mobile (or, some even say, electricity). It might also prove to be something more like the metaverse that has lots of potential but will take time to mature. A lot of money, and perhaps the health of the U.S. economy, is riding on the answer to that question.
Category:
E-Commerce
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