Employees sort packages at the United Parcel Service (UPS) Chicago Area Consolidation Hub in Hodgkins, Illinois.

United Parcel Service would hire about 100,000 temporary employees for the crucial holiday season beginning in November, the U.S. package delivery company said on Monday.

The company's seasonal hiring is about 5.3 percent more than last year when it added about 95,000 temporary positions.

Peak season begins on Black Friday, the day after the Thanksgiving holiday in November, and runs through early January when there is a large wave of returns.

Both UPS and smaller rival FedEx hire seasonal workers every year to handle huge volumes of deliveries during the season as shoppers spend more online, buoyed by a strong economy and labor market.

Last week, FedEx said it would hire about 55,000 workers for the season, up about 10 percent compared with a year earlier.

UPS had about 454,000 permanent employees as of Dec. 31, 2017, while FedEx employed about 166,000 people as of May 31.