Topline
American employers are planning to hire a record-low number of seasonal employees in the final months of the year despite a rising demand from potential workers looking to take on temporary roles in lieu of full time work, multiple recent reports show.
An employee adjusts a price label for Barbie dolls displayed for sale ahead of Black Friday at a Walmart Supercenter on Nov. 14, 2023 in Burbank, California.
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Key Facts
Holiday hiring could fall to decade-low levels this year, reflecting a year-long trend that has seen 2025 have the lowest level of year-to-date hiring since 2009, according to career services firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
Challenger tracked 100,800 seasonal hiring plans in September, down from the 401,850 announced by the beginning of October in 2024, and has warned retailers may add fewer than 500,000 positions in the last three months of the year, which would be the lowest point since the recession-hit season of 2009.
There had been only a 2.7% uptick in seasonal job postings from employers as of the end of September, job search platform Indeed told Bloomberg, much lower than the 27% surge in searches for seasonal jobs seen by the same time.
The number of searches for seasonal work is up 50% over 2023, per Bloomberg, reflecting a rising number of people looking for temporary work as they struggle to find permanent jobs in a period of low hiring and low firing.
Andy Challenger, president of Challenger, Gray & Christmas. has pointed to inflation, tariff fears and increasing reliance on regular, full-time employees as reasons for the dip.
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Tangent
Some companies have announced they plan to hire a lower number of seasonal roles than in years before. Bath & Body Works is planning to hire 32,000 workers, according to Challenger (700 fewer than last year) and Michaels is looking for 10,000 employees (5,000 fewer than in 2022). Radial, an e-commerce company that manages deliveries for roughly 120 companies, plans to hire 500 fewer workers this year, according to PBS News, and some major seasonal employers, including Target, UPS and Macy’s are reportedly refusing to share hiring plans for this year, despite doing so in years past.
Contra
Spirit Halloween had the same number of seasonal job openings this year as last (50,000, according to Challenger) and Amazon has said it will hire 250,000 full-, part-time and seasonal workers for the end-of-year shopping season—the same number as last year.
Key Background
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell earlier this week acknowledged “very low levels of job creation” despite an economy that “may be on a somewhat firmer trajectory than expected.” The stagnant labor market can be blamed on high economic uncertainty, and, in some cases, increased investment in artificial intelligence, the Federal Reserve said in its latest Beige Book report on the economy, noting that employers are favoring hiring part-time workers over offering full-time employment. The Federal Reserve in Cleveland noted retail businesses in their district had “no growth, so no new positions will be added” and the Atlanta district noted a “hiring chill.” The report also said the hospitality, agriculture, construction and manufacturing sectors have been hit hard by recent changes to immigration policies.
Further Reading
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