Usually by this time of year, Macy’s, Aldi USA, Burlington Stores and Target have announced how many seasonal hires they expect to make this holiday season. But that’s not the case this year, at least not thus far.
And that, report a variety of news sources including CNBC, is one of the reasons job-placement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. predicts seasonal hiring in 2025 is expected to fall to under 500,000, its lowest level since the 2009 recession.
“Seasonal employers are facing a confluence of factors this year: tariffs loom, inflationary pressures linger and many companies continue to rely on automation and permanent staff instead of large waves of seasonal hires,” said Andy Challenger, SVP and workplace expert at Challenger, Gray & Christmas. “While we could see a late hiring push if holiday sales surprise to the upside, the cautious pace of announcements so far suggests that companies are not betting on a big seasonal surge. This year may be more about doing more with less.”
Last year, the Challenger report notes, Target said it would hire 100,000 seasonal workers. This year, the retailer said it’s offering additional hours to its current employees and tapping into its “On-Demand team” – a group of about 43,000 store employees who pick up shifts on an as-needed basis.
While Target said it also hires seasonal team members across its stores and supply chain facilities, it didn’t say how many it was planning to bring on board this year.
Meanwhile, Macy’s, Burlington Stores, Aldi and 1-800-Flowers have not released any information about their holiday hiring plans. While some companies like Amazon and UPS release hiring figures a bit later in the season, Spirit Halloween and Bath & Body Works have done so. Spirit said it’s planning to hire 50,000 people, the same number as last year, according to Challenger. Bath & Body Works is planning to hire 32,000 workers, down slightly from 32,700 last year, Challenger said.
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