Retailers are gearing up for another bustling holiday season, but with a slight twist—while hiring is on the rise, the number of seasonal positions is a bit of a mixed bag.
Amazon, always at the forefront of big hiring announcements, is bringing in 250,000 seasonal workers, holding steady from last year. Meanwhile, Bath & Body Works and Target are adding a combined 100,000 workers, with Target letting its regular staff cash in on extra hours, surely putting holiday cheer in their bank accounts.
But not everyone is on the same hiring spree. Macy’s will add over 31,000 positions, but that’s a dip from last year’s 38,000. And Kohl’s? It’s playing coy—encouraging applications without spilling the beans on how many they actually need. Walmart seems to be leaning on its existing crew to handle the holiday hustle, so if you already work there, congratulations—you might be busier than Santa’s elves this season.
What’s interesting is UPS—also pulling a sleigh of sorts—bumping its seasonal hires to 125,000, a sizable increase from last year.
That’s likely to help with the continued boom in online shopping, which shows no signs of slowing down.
Deloitte and EY-Parthenon predict retail sales to increase by about 2.3 to 3.3 percent, hitting the massive sum of $1.59 trillion. Yes, trillion. You’d think all that shopping would make the economy feel festive, but job openings are actually cooling off, down from a peak of 12.2 million in early 2022.
Now, here’s the kicker—there’s a potential Grinch in the mix: a dockyard workers' strike on the Eastern Seaboard and Gulf Coast could mess with holiday shopping if it drags on.
Translation: you might pay more for that last-minute gift.
In sum, this holiday season’s job scene has retailers balancing between steady hiring and keeping costs lean. So, whether you’re packing Amazon orders or scanning items at Target, expect busy times, but with a little less cushion from extra hands compared to previous years.