Online shopping drives demand for casuals in pre-Christmas period.

 

The demand for casual staff is about to skyrocket as online shopping in the pre-Christmas period goes through the roof. 

 

E-commerce giant Amazon Australia said it plans to hire more than 1000 seasonal workers to help with the deluge of pick, pack and ship orders expected over the summer months.

 

Of these, around 400 will be in Sydney, around 600 will be in Melbourne and around 100 roles are on offer in Brisbane.

 

Amazon currently staffs five fulfilment centres in the country and 12 logistics sites, spread across Sydney, Newcastle, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane and the Gold Coast.

 

Last month, electronics retailer JB Hi-Fi announced it was recruiting around 1500 casuals, while Coles announced it was offering more than 7000 positions across all its divisions.

 

Woolworths currently has 1000 vacant positions while Big W is seeking more than 3500.

 

Australia Post, which is currently delivering more than two million parcels every day, recently announced that it was seeking an additional 1600 staff to handle a backlog of parcel deliveries.

 

A record $4.2 billion was spent online in August according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). The latest figures show an increase of 15.1 per cent compared to the previous month, with online sales also up 36.4 per cent compared to August 2020.