At a time when many companies hoard workers for the holiday shopping rush, seasonal jobs are scarcer than they have been in years as firms increasingly look to do more with less amid economic uncertainty and the rising adoption of AI.

Retailers will slash seasonal hiring to levels not seen since after the Great Recession, according to the National Retail Federation, which projects companies will add 265,000 to 365,000 positions. That would be as much as a 40 percent drop from the 442,000 roles they added in 2024, the NRF noted, a reflection of how companies are attempting to offset tariff costs and tighten their budgets.

The staffing firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas also expects holiday hiring to be the weakest since 2009, “with only a handful of companies making public commitments to h

See Full Page