A worker collects orders at Amazon's fulfilment centre in Rugeley, central England
A worker collects orders at Amazon's fulfilment centre in Rugeley, central England

Amazon (AMZN) said Thursday it plans to hire an additional 150,000 workers ahead of its Prime Early Access Sale next week and the upcoming holiday season.

Next week's sale marks the second time the company has done a Prime Day-like event.

The recruiting push is part of a strategy the company has used before, in expanding its temporary workforce to align with booming demand. In the latest hiring spree, the company said it's hiring full-time, seasonal and part-time workers for its warehouses.

With a rocky labor market in recent weeks, Amazon raised its average starting wage for warehouse employees to over $19 from $18 in late September.

Earlier this year, Amazon itself was under pressure. The company closed several of its warehouses in September, while also delaying opening some buildings amid excess warehouse space.

While some companies, such as tech giants Meta, Netflix, and Salesforce have announced hiring freezes and layoffs in recent months, retail is seeing a resurgence.

Both Walmart and Target recently unveiled plans to add 40,000 and 100,000 seasonal employees.

In a bid to draw workers, Amazon said Tuesday it's offering sign-on bonuses ranging from $1,000 to $3,000.

In its Q2 report, the company posted an operating income of $3.3 billion, down from over $7 billion the year before. Amazon also said it had trimmed its workforce by nearly 99,000 to 1.52 million.