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Topline
In the final months of the year, American companies are set to recruit an unprecedentedly low number of seasonal workers, despite a growing interest from individuals seeking temporary positions over permanent roles, according to several recent studies.
This year’s holiday hiring is poised to reach its lowest point in a decade, continuing a trend that has made 2025 the year with the least hiring activity since 2009, as highlighted by career consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
The firm recorded just 100,800 seasonal hiring plans in September, a significant drop from the 401,850 positions announced by early October in 2024. They caution that retailers might employ fewer than 500,000 individuals in the upcoming three months, marking the lowest seasonal hiring since the recession-hit period of 2009.
By the end of September, employers had only increased their seasonal job postings by 2.7%, according to job search engine Indeed, shared with Bloomberg. This is in stark contrast to the 27% increase in the number of people searching for seasonal employment within the same timeframe.
Bloomberg reports that the pursuit of seasonal work has surged by 50% compared to 2023, indicating a growing number of people turning to temporary employment options as they face challenges securing permanent positions amid a landscape of minimal hiring and layoffs.
Andy Challenger, president of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, attributes the decline in seasonal hiring to factors such as inflation, concerns over tariffs, and a growing dependence on regular, full-time staff.
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.
