Retailers around the U.S. are expected to sharply reduce the number of workers they add for the holidays, a shift from their usual seasonal hiring sprees to help cope with the annual crush of customers.

Outplacement firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas attributes the weak demand for extra workers this year to companies bearing the heavier costs from U.S. tariffs on foreign goods, as well as on rising inflation and their growing reliance on technology to improve efficiency.

The firm expects retail hiring fo the holidays to fall to its lowest level since 2009, when the economy was emerging from a recession caused by the global financial crisis.

"Seasonal employers are facing a confluence of factors this year: tariffs loom, inflationary pressures linger, and many companies continue to rely

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