Employers are signaling a more cautious approach to holiday hiring this year. Retailers that normally add staff for the Thanksgiving-to-Christmas rush, such as UPS, haven’t released their typical hiring targets. Others, like Kroger, have said they expected to bring in fewer temporary workers than last year.
Economic headwinds have made the companies more guarded. The longest-ever government shutdown, tariff costs and artificial intelligence tools that have been reshaping certain roles have made it difficult for many Americans to find work. Searches for holiday jobs are up 27 percent from last year while seasonal postings are up 2.7 percent, according to a report from Indeed.
“This is going to be a more competitive seasonal hiring season,” said Cory Stahle, an economist at Indeed.
The National Retail Federation expects retailers to hire between 265,000 and 365,000 seasonal workers this year, down from 442,000 in 2024. Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a research firm, reported that holiday staffing could slip to its lowest level in more than a decade.
“The cautious pace of announcements so far suggests that companies are not betting on a big seasonal surge,” said Andy Challenger, the senior vice president of Challenger, Gray & Christmas. “This year may be more about doing more with less.”
In part, the tougher holiday hiring market reflects a shift that began after the pandemic, when retailers struggling to fill roles hired earlier and more steadily throughout the year. Many try to give more hours to current employees before opening positions to seasonal applicants, reducing the number of short-term jobs available heading into November and December.
Take Target. Last year, the retailer said it would hire 100,000 seasonal workers. This year, it said it was offering additional hours to current employees and didn’t mention how many seasonal workers it planned to hire. Target also said it would tap its “On-Demand” team, a group of about 43,000 store employees who pick up shifts based on their schedules. As it reported earnings on Wednesday, the company said it anticipated a weak holiday season as strapped consumers pull back on spending for apparel and home goods.
Nearly nine million Americans work more than one job, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. People turn to holiday positions for flexible hours and extra income when they need it most. Holiday sales from Nov. 1 to Dec. 24 are expected to grow 3.6 percent from last year, according to Mastercard’s SpendingPulse forecast.
Alexandra Mariscal-Lazo, a 20-year-old student at California Lutheran University, began looking for a second job to help cover her rent and monthly expenses in June. Her part-time job as a server at a restaurant chain wasn’t providing enough shifts, she said, and she noticed several openings for seasonal jobs in the same sector that offered slightly higher pay than her wage of around $17 an hour.
Because she was already employed, she expected to find something fairly quick. But she is still searching.
“I need the second job,” Ms. Mariscal-Lazo said. “I will be lying if I say that I don’t go on Indeed every day to look at what you have opened.”
