Seasonal retail jobs in November fall to lowest level since 2008

Retailers have taken a cautious approach this year to holiday hiring.

As job cuts start to inch up and economic uncertainty continues, retailers added 256,700 seasonal jobs in November, down 26% from the 348,600 jobs added in the year-ago period and the lowest level since 2008 when retailers made 213,600 holiday hires, according to an analysis by Challenger, Gray & Christmas of data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

At the same time, however, employment in the retail sector is higher than last year. According to the BLS, 16,076,400 Americans are employed in retail, the highest November for the sector since 2018, when 16,191,000 were employed.

So far this holiday season, retailers have added 418,700 jobs, down 27% from the 573,000 jobs added in October and November of 2021.

“It’s clear that retailers that hire seasonal workers are taking a cautious approach to adding positions this holiday season,” said Andrew Challenger, senior VP of Challenger, Gray & Christmas. “Many are still unsure if workers will be needed in-store versus in online fulfillment roles, as consumers begin to return to stores. Also, many are still unsure if consumer spending will justify new hires, particularly as layoffs begin to ripple around the economy,”

Transportation and Warehousing Update
Similarly, the transportation and warehousing sectors added 167,900 jobs in November, down 30% from the 239,800 new positions added in the same month last year. So far this year, the sector has added 233,700 jobs for the holiday season, down 35% from October and November 2021.

Total employment for the sector, however, is 6,714,800, according to data from the BLS, the highest total for the sector on record.

Large-Scale Hiring

In September, Walmart announced holiday hiring plans that were down from last year, while Target announced plans that were on par with last year. Several other retailers said they planned to keep holiday hiring level with last year, or slightly down.

Challenger said the company tracked fewer large-scale seasonal hiring announcements this year than last.  To date, companies have announced plans to hire 597,600 holiday workers, a 38% decrease from last year.  

“Seasonal employers in both retail and transportation & warehousing have been recruiting and attempting to retain workers for over two years, so it’s not a surprise that new jobs added around the holidays are down, especially with a downturn looming on the horizon,” said Challenger.