10 Companies Still Hiring Amid Coronavirus

There’s no question that the coronavirus pandemic has been a disaster for the labor market. The lockdowns in the spring led to about 22 million job losses, and only about half of those have been recouped thus far. Meanwhile, temporary job losses are turning into permanent ones as small businesses and large corporations in the industries most impacted by the pandemic are struggling to bounce back.

Nonetheless, the pandemic has actually been a tailwind for some industries like tech, consumer staples, and healthcare, whose products are in higher demand now. So even while some companies are being driven into bankruptcy, many are still hiring. Keep reading to see 10 companies adding jobs right now.

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It’s not surprising to find Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) on this list. The tech giant is now the second-biggest private employer in the U.S., behind Walmart (NYSE: WMT). And it has seen its growth accelerate during the crisis as e-commerce takes on greater importance with so many stores closed and some consumers avoiding brick-and-mortar retail for safety reasons.

During the lockdown period in April, Amazon said it would hire 125,000 workers permanently, and now the company is making a bigger-than-normal push for new employees ahead of the holiday season.

Amazon said in September that it plans to hire another 100,000 full-time and part-time employees in North America, mostly in fulfillment, and the company held a Career Day in September to fill 33,000 corporate and tech jobs, showing it’s hiring at a range of salary levels.

ALSO READ: 3 Reasons Prime Day Will Be Amazon's Biggest Yet

Healthcare is a recession-proof industry in ordinary economic downturns, but during the coronavirus pandemic, the sector is more vital than ever, especially for essential retailers like CVS Health (NYSE: CVS), which owns both the CVS Pharmacy chain and Aetna health insurance.

CVS announced back in March that it was seeking to hire 50,000 people, and as the company expands its Minute Clinics and ramps up flu shots ahead of a potentially deadly winter, hiring is as important as ever. Though the company said it had hired 40,000 new employees in August , it still has about 33,000 job openings on its website across the country and in a range of positions, including customer service; pharmacy; and corporate positions like accounting, strategy, and data analysis.

Few industries have experienced the kind of recovery that the housing sector has: Home sales and prices are now above where they were a year ago across much of the country as Americans seek to reinvent their living spaces to adapt to life during the pandemic.

Homebuilders have been among the big winners of the rebound, including the nation's largest, D.R. Horton (NYSE: DHI). The company said net sales orders jumped 38% in the most recent quarter to 21,519, while revenue increased 10% to $5.4 billion and earnings per share jumped 37%.

Not surprisingly, D.R. Horton is hiring as the housing boom may just be getting started. The company had nearly 700 openings on its website, including for sales reps, superintendents, and mortgage loan originators.

Package delivery companies like UPS (NYSE: UPS) often see a spike in hiring ahead of the holiday season, and with e-commerce booming during the pandemic, UPS is adding even more workers than normal. The company said in September that it planned to add 100,000 new jobs for the peak season, and it expects a large number of those new jobs to convert into permanent positions. Among the jobs available are package handlers, drivers, and driver-helpers.

In past years, more than a third of seasonal hires have converted into long-term positions, and given the high demand for e-commerce and package delivery, that number could easily go higher this year.

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Perhaps no company in the U.S. has sought to hire more new workers this year than Instacart, the leading third-party grocery delivery service. In March, when lockdowns began, Instacart said that it was seeking to fill 300,000 jobs as it aimed to fill overwhelming demand from the pandemic. Grocery delivery has been a booming business during the crisis as Americans have been reluctant to shop in stores and have taken advantage of the convenience.

While demand for grocery delivery has faded since the lockdowns, Instacart still has a lot of openings available across the country, including positions like in-store shopper and full-service shopper who both select groceries and deliver them with their own vehicle.

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Sales at Walmart have also spiked during the pandemic. The company has benefited from its position as an essential retailer, and its grocery pickup and delivery infrastructure has driven a sales bump during the crisis.

Not surprisingly, Walmart is adding new jobs ahead of the holiday season. The retail giant said in September that it would hire 20,000 seasonal workers at its e-commerce fulfillment centers across the country, at starting hourly wages from $15.75-$23.75.

The company also said that it hired more than 500,000 new employees since March, making its stores ready to handle the increased sales during the peak shopping season. With the recent launch of Walmart+, a subscription delivery service that includes free grocery delivery, Walmart remains focused on growth, and that means hiring new workers.

Few stocks have attracted as much attention as Tesla (Nasdaq: TSLA) as shares of the electric-vehicle (EV) maker have jumped 400% year to date, and the company is now easily the world’s most valuable car manufacturer at a market cap of around $400 billion.

As EV battery prices fall faster than expected, the industry has caught investors’ eyes and sector stocks have surged. Tesla is rapidly expanding, in the process of building its third factory in Germany and planning for a fourth in Texas. Meanwhile, the company is ramping up its sales presence as it increases production.

The EV manufacturer has about 2,000 job openings on its website, in areas like sales, manufacturing, and vehicle service.

Software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies have seen a boom during the pandemic as companies big and small have leaned on the technology to help them handle remote work and conduct business seamlessly and efficiently during the pandemic.

While Zoom Video Communications may be the best example of this, smaller SaaS companies like Appian (Nasdaq: APPN) have also seen a hiring boom.

The maker of low-code software that allows organizations to quickly deploy new apps is experiencing a hiring surge, according to job-review site Glassdoor. The company has 116 openings on the site in areas like sales, engineering, and consulting.

CEO Matt Calkins had earlier said that the company continued to hire through the worst of the crisis as it was actually seeing its sales cycle accelerate, a sign that companies need its products more than ever.

ALSO READ: This Under-the-Radar SaaS Company Just Had Another Great Quarter

While public education jobs fell sharply in the September labor report as the sector has been roiled by remote schooling, there is some good news for educators looking for jobs.

Online schools like K12 (NYSE: LRN) are seeing a boom that is driving new job openings. The company, which is the leader in virtual K-12 education, said in July that it was hiring more than 1,300 educators in the 2020-21 school year, significantly growing its base of around 6,000 teachers.

As more families look for educational alternatives during a unique school year, hiring for online tutors and teachers should continue to grow.

Healthcare jobs have boomed during the crisis as testing for the coronavirus has become one of the most essential tools for fighting the spread of the disease.

That’s driven a surge in hiring at hospitals and health clinics, including Northwell Health, the largest healthcare system in New York and the 14th largest in the country.

Northwell Health has more than 1,500 job openings on its website in areas including customer service, nursing, accounting, and medical specialists.

Nurses were already in high demand before the crisis, and given the aging baby boomer population, healthcare jobs at places like Northwell Health should only grow over the coming years.

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With the winter just around the corner, the industries that have suffered the most during the pandemic like travel, entertainment, and restaurants are likely to continue to struggle, especially as many medical experts have predicted that the pandemic could get worse in colder weather.

However, even while those industries wither, there are opportunities elsewhere as a spike in demand in areas like e-commerce, home improvement, healthcare, and virtual education is driving hiring.

Those out of a job may struggle to find a position in their industry, but the pandemic has led to a boom in other sectors, where employers still have thousands of jobs to fill.

John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Jeremy Bowman owns shares of Amazon and CVS Health. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Amazon, Appian, Tesla, and Zoom Video Communications. The Motley Fool recommends CVS Health and recommends the following options: short January 2022 $1940 calls on Amazon and long January 2022 $1920 calls on Amazon. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.