Seasonal Jobs Hiring in 2026: Holiday Hiring Tracker, Pay and Timing

Seasonal hiring is open, and the big numbers arrived late. Through October, employers announced 470,400 seasonal hires, 26% more than at the same point in 2025, but only five companies have put a number on paper, against 11 a year earlier.

Challenger, Gray & Christmas also expects retailers to add about 450,000 jobs in the fourth quarter of 2026, below the 461,500 added in 2025, which was already the smallest seasonal gain since 2008. Parcel carriers, the Postal Service, Macy’s, Michaels and Kohl’s are all posting roles.

There’s work to find, and it goes to the people who apply early and pick the right employer. That means knowing which employer pays best, how long the contract runs and whether anyone gets kept on, and job boards list thousands of seasonal openings without answering any of those.

The sections ahead sort the big employers on those three questions, so you can decide before you spend an evening on applications. Every figure carries its source and year, and 2025 numbers are labeled as 2025.

Key findings from the 2026 tracker

2026 holiday hiring tracker: who has announced so far

Last updated: November 8, 2026. Amazon and UPS account for 400,000 of the 470,400 seasonal hires announced through October, according to Challenger’s November 5, 2026 report. Most of the retailers that used to publish a headline figure in September haven’t published one this year.

Figures in the second and third columns come from Challenger’s September 23 and November 5, 2026 reports unless the row names another source. “No number” means we found no 2026 national headcount from that employer as of the update date, not that it isn’t hiring.

How does 470,400 compare? It’s up from 372,520 through October 2025, the lowest total since Challenger started tracking seasonal hiring in 2012, and still well below the 660,150 announced in 2024.

September 2026 brought the fewest hiring plans of any September since 2011, because Amazon and UPS both waited until October.

For you, the takeaway is that a missing headline number isn’t a missing job. Target, Kohl’s and FedEx all have seasonal postings live without announcing a count, so apply to the posting rather than waiting for the press release.

Tracker update log

• November 8: no 2026 national figure yet from Target, Kohl’s, FedEx, Bath & Body Works or USPS.
• November 5: Challenger counts 470,400 seasonal hiring plans through October, up 26% from 2025, from five companies.
• October 20: Amazon announces more than 300,000 roles at a $20 seasonal average, its largest seasonal figure.
• October 7: UPS announces more than 100,000 seasonal hires; Target updates its seasonal pay fact sheet.
• September 23: Challenger forecasts about 450,000 retail jobs added in the fourth quarter.
• September 14: USPS opens Holiday Clerk Assistant applications in South Carolina at $21.89 an hour.
• September 10: Michaels announces more than 10,000 seasonal team members.

We add a row when an employer publishes a number or Challenger publishes a new count, and every figure keeps its source and date.

Cite this data

Seasonal jobs hiring right now: which employers are the best bet?

The best-paying seasonal jobs are driving and parcel roles, and the best bets for staying on are employers that publish conversion figures. Michaels, Macy’s, Kohl’s and the Postal Service all have 2026 seasonal roles posted.

In October two parcel giants put numbers out: UPS said on October 7 it’s hiring more than 100,000 seasonal employees, and Amazon said on October 20 it’s hiring over 300,000 people for seasonal, part-time and full-time roles. FedEx still hadn’t published a 2026 target by November 8.

Employers have been slow to put numbers on paper. Challenger’s September 23, 2026 outlook says UPS, FedEx and USPS had not released 2026 targets, and neither had Amazon, Target or Kohl’s.

Amazon announced on October 3 in 2024 and October 13 in 2025, both times with a goal of 250,000 full-time, part-time and seasonal positions combined. In 2026 it waited until October 20 and raised the goal to over 300,000, which is why a quiet September doesn’t mean the jobs are gone. Our Amazon seasonal jobs guide covers the details.

Retailers are also filling part of the rush with their own staff. Michaels says current team members can take extra holiday hours, and Challenger describes the wider pattern as retailers leaning on automation, existing associates and on-demand pools. What does that mean for you? Fewer net-new seasonal slots, and more applicants chasing each posting.

Pay figures are posted rates from the sources named in each row, not guarantees, and your location and shift change the number. Walmart and Costco are listed for comparison only; neither announced a 2026 seasonal drive.

UPS gets one row because it has its own page. In short, UPS’s careers site says seasonal roles typically run October to December with a set end date, hours can include early-morning or midnight shifts, and a seasonal package delivery driver listing shows $23.00 an hour. Seasonal support drivers use their own vehicles and get mileage reimbursement.

Handler pay, the application steps and how fast offers move are on our UPS seasonal jobs page.

For seasonal jobs near me hiring this week, start with each employer’s own careers page and search by ZIP code. Target, Kohl’s, Michaels and UPS each run a seasonal search there, and Macy’s says pay ranges appear in all of its postings, so you can compare before you apply.

What seasonal pay and hours look like once the shift starts

A posted hourly rate doesn’t tell you much until you know the shift length. FedEx says part-time package handlers work one shift a day, generally 3 to 6 hours, and its casual handler tier is capped at 24 hours a week with no benefits, as laid out in our FedEx package handler pay breakdown.

What does that look like in a paycheck? At the September 2026 posted range of $17.65 to $22.25 an hour, a full 24 hours comes to roughly $424 to $534 a week before taxes, and a 3-hour shift pays far less. If a holiday schedule pushes you past 40 hours in a week, our overtime calculator shows what time and a half adds.

Drivers and postal roles sit higher. The USPS listing for a holiday tractor-trailer operator in Arkansas pays $23.13 an hour, paid bi-weekly, for a temporary non-career stint from October 31 to December 25, 2026, which is eight weeks. Retail floors pay less per hour, with Walmart’s typical entry range at $14 to $19 according to our Walmart starting pay page.

Pay timing differs too. FedEx pays weekly, Kohl’s lists weekly pay, USPS pays bi-weekly, and Macy’s offers earned wage access before the scheduled payday. On a season that lasts eight to ten weeks, a weekly check matters more than you’d expect.

Seasonal wages are taxed like any other paycheck. Your employer withholds based on the W-4 you file, and a job that lasts only a few months can leave withholding out of step with your full-year income, so you might see a refund or a balance due in spring. That’s general background, not tax advice; the IRS or a tax preparer can speak to your situation.

When should you apply for seasonal jobs?

Apply now for warehouse, parcel and postal roles, then plan a second round in October and November for store jobs. Amazon has said its seasonal roles often fill within minutes of posting, while Macy’s holds three nationwide hiring events through November 19 (Macy’s, Inc., September 24, 2026), so missing the first retail wave isn’t final.

You’ll hear both “wait” and “apply now” in the same season. Applicants on r/SeasonalWork certainly have, so which one should you follow?

“Yeah, I feel like the advice two months ago was to wait, and now everybody’s saying that it’s already too late. Personally, I just gotta remember that I got this job a week before the season started, so just keep applying.”
– r/SeasonalWork, 2026 (18 upvotes)

The commenter’s last line holds up against the calendar. Michaels held its hiring day on September 12, Macy’s has events on September 24, October 22 and November 19, and the USPS listing starts October 31, so new openings keep appearing from mid-September into late November.

A workable rule: apply the day you see a posting for parcel, warehouse or postal work, because the listed starts begin in late October. For stores, apply in the first wave if you can and keep a second application ready for the October and November events.

Don’t wait for a headcount announcement. Amazon, Target and Kohl’s had issued none as of September 23, and the postings were already live. Amazon’s figure didn’t arrive until October 20, and Target still hadn’t given a national count by November 8.

Check end dates before you accept. UPS says seasonal roles carry a set end date and typically run October to December, and the USPS listing ends December 25. Amazon said in October 2025 that jobs would be posted through December, which tells you hiring runs late but not when contracts end. Macy’s and Kohl’s didn’t publish end dates in their 2026 announcements, so you’ll want to ask the recruiter for the last scheduled day.

Who gets kept on after the season, and how do you make that list?

The employers that publish conversion numbers show rates from about one third to about one half, but the figures come in different units and different years, so read each one carefully.

• Michaels (September 2026 release): nearly 50% of seasonal in-store positions converted to regular roles after last year’s holidays.
• UPS (October 2020 release): over the prior three years, about one third of people hired for seasonal package handler jobs were later hired permanently. That figure is six years old.
• Target (seasonal staffing fact sheet, updated October 7, 2026): Target says that last year, “more than half of our seasonal store team members continued with Target after the holidays.” That counts people who stayed, not just offers made. Our Target seasonal jobs guide covers how the decision gets made.
• FedEx and Amazon: no current conversion rate in what they’ve published. An Amazon vice president described seasonal roles in October 2025 as, for some people, “the first step in building a new career path,” which is a description rather than a rate.

Read these as a range of what’s possible. Each describes one company in one year, and none says what happens at your building.

Ask early, in the interview or at orientation: what share of last year’s seasonal staff stayed? A recruiter who answers with a number is at an employer that keeps people, and one who dodges tells you something too.

Then make yourself easy to keep. Take the shifts others skip, since Target’s seasonal page says early-morning and overnight hours carry added pay, and volunteering for them gets you noticed. Show up on every scheduled day, because attendance is the one record a manager can check without waiting for a review.

In early December, tell your supervisor you want to stay and ask which year-round openings are coming. A manager can’t plan a spot for you until you’ve said you want one.

What the hiring process asks of you

Seasonal hiring runs through three checkpoints, the interview or assessment, the age line on the posting, and the background check. Each employer handles them a little differently, so here’s where to dig deeper on each one.

Interviews and assessments

Target runs most hourly applicants through six recorded questions before a manager speaks to them, and our Target interview questions page lists them. Amazon’s screening depends on the role: many warehouse applicants get no scored assessment, while corporate roles do, as covered on our Amazon assessment test page. Old Navy store managers tend to work through a sheet of situational questions, sometimes with several applicants at once, and our Old Navy interview questions page collects the ones associates report. For store managers and warehouse supervisors in general, the most common interview questions and answers cover what they tend to ask.

Age rules

Some retail floors take 16-year-olds, and most warehouse work doesn’t. Walmart’s store postings print no minimum age while its eCom seasonal warehouse postings say 18, Sam’s Club requires 18, and Costco’s company-wide floor is 18, per our list of jobs that hire at 16. Target doesn’t print a minimum age in its careers FAQ or in the seasonal postings we read in October 2026, so ask the recruiter. Parcel, warehouse and driving postings typically set 18, so you’ll want to read the age line on each one.

Records and drug screening

Screening usually comes after the offer, which matters if you’ve got a record. Our page on jobs that hire felons explains that most rejections come after a conditional offer, when the background check returns, not at the application stage.

Drug testing usually applies to regulated roles only. At Walmart, cashier and stocker applicants generally never take one, while CDL drivers and a short list of regulated roles do, as our Walmart drug test breakdown shows. For driving roles, read the requirements section of the posting before you apply.

Seasonal jobs hiring FAQ

How many seasonal workers are companies hiring in 2026?

Employers announced 470,400 seasonal hires through October 2026, up 26% from the same point in 2025, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas. Amazon (more than 300,000) and UPS (more than 100,000) make up most of it. Target, Kohl’s and FedEx hadn’t published 2026 numbers as of November 8.

When do companies start hiring seasonal workers?

Companies start in September and keep hiring into November. In 2026, Michaels held its hiring day on September 12, Macy’s has events on September 24, October 22 and November 19, UPS announced its 2026 figure on October 7, and Amazon announced its numbers on October 20, 2026, a week later than in 2025.

Which seasonal jobs pay the most?

Driving and parcel roles pay the most in the sources above. A USPS tractor-trailer listing pays $23.13 an hour, a UPS seasonal driver listing shows $23.00, FedEx handlers range from $17.65 to $22.25, Amazon’s 2026 seasonal average is $20, and Walmart’s typical entry range is $14 to $19.

Do seasonal workers get hired permanently?

Some do, and the rate depends on the employer and the year. Michaels said nearly half of last year’s seasonal in-store positions converted, and UPS said in 2020 that about one third of seasonal package handlers were later hired permanently. Neither number predicts your site.

Can you get a seasonal job at 16?

Sometimes. Walmart’s store seasonal postings print no minimum age, its warehouse seasonal postings say 18, and Costco sets 18. Target doesn’t print a minimum age for seasonal roles, so ask the recruiter. UPS, FedEx and Amazon don’t print a handler minimum age on their role pages, so check each posting. Our page of jobs that hire at 16 has the full list.

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