Holiday job seekers confront an ‘incredibly stressful’ market

Nicholas Strahl could always find extra work during the holidays. But this year was an exception.

Mr. Strahl, 41, works part-time as a salesman at an office supply store near Indianapolis, Indiana. While the salary is “good,” he said it “never hurts to have a little more.”

Finding a job during the holidays to get extra money to pay bills and buy holiday gifts for friends and family has proven to be a challenge. He began his search in early October and applied to CVS, Best Buy and numerous other retailers, but to no avail.

“I’ve never seen a job market like this—it’s just crazy,” he said.

“It doesn’t really leave a lot of options for people who just want to get a job or have extra income.”

Seasonal hiring could fall to its lowest level since the 2008 recession, according to the National Retail Federation. The pullback, a sign of caution among U.S. businesses in the face of tariffs and consumer worries, comes as more people look for work in a cooling labor market.

The industry group expects retailers to hire between 265,000 and 365,000 seasonal workers, up from 442,000 last year.

Recruitment firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, which also predicted the weakest holiday season for retail hiring in more than 15 years, said tariffs, inflation and reliance on automation were reducing demand for seasonal staff.

If Strahl can't find work for the holidays, he plans to cut back on spending on holiday gifts and put off car repairs. He will be waiting to replace his old laptop.

“At this point,” he said, “I’m willing to take whatever I can get.”

Indeed data shows that while seasonal job postings are largely flat compared to last year, more people are looking for seasonal work.

And in retail, traditionally one of the biggest holiday employers, there are fewer opportunities.

The job market is “frozen with frostbite,” said Allison Srivastava, an economist at the Indeed Hiring Lab. The fact that seasonal job postings remained unchanged from last year reflects labor market paralysis, she said.

“You have a much larger labor pool competing for fewer jobs,” she added.

The government shutdown, which lasted more than a month and ended on November 13, delayed the release of official labor market data. However, September data, finally released last week, showed unexpected success when applying for a job after a dull summer.

Employers added 119,000 jobs in September, more than double what many analysts expected, but the unemployment rate rose to 4.4% from 4.3%.

Data from Revelio Labs, a talent intelligence company, shows job openings in the retail sector fell 22% in October compared to last year. The drop indicates a decline in demand among retailers for furloughed workers.

“We're just not seeing the usual uptick in weekend hiring,” said Lisa Simon, chief economist at Revelio.

Several leading retailers, including Target and Walmart, have refrained from saying how many additional workers they will add to their payrolls for the holidays.

Walmart may hire employees individually, but the extra hours during the holidays will be provided primarily to current employees, a company spokesman said.

The lack of specifics marks a change from previous years, when firms announced their seasonal hiring plans in advance.

In contrast, Amazon says it will hire the same number of people in its fulfillment and transportation network as it has in the last two years.

“The cautious pace of announcements at this time suggests companies are not betting on a big seasonal surge,” Andy Challenger, senior vice president of sales for Challenger, Gray & Christmas, said in a statement.

This follows from recent high-profile layoffs in large US companies, including in the retail sector.

Some small retailers are also acting cautiously ahead of the holidays, further limiting job seekers' opportunities at local stores.

For Hobby Works, a chain of two toy stores in Maryland, pressure from tariffs and blows to economic policy this year has been exacerbated in recent weeks by the federal government shutdown.

The Washington, D.C.-based company, which employs 24 people, has pushed back its normal hiring deadline for seasonal workers, President Michael Bray said.

Cost-cutting concerns among government employees who have gone without pay more than a month before the shutdown ends have prompted the store to cut costs by cutting back on hiring, he said.

“Hanukkah always happens, Christmas always comes, so we try not to change our hiring structure too much,” Mr. Bray said.

“But this is the first year that we are moving very slowly.”

Two years ago, Tanya Secord went through the application process and received a temporary job at Target, where she worked part-time as a cashier during the 2023 holiday season.

Her job search this year has been marred by disappointment after disappointment.

Secord, 52, sent her resume to retailers including Costco and Target, hoping her retail experience would help. But each statement was met with either radio silence or rejection.

“It's been incredibly stressful because food prices have gone up and the cost of living in general is just ridiculous,” said Ms. Secord, who finally landed the registrar position in early November.