With the holiday season fast approaching, major retailers in the US are preparing for the busiest shopping period of the year. However, despite the usual ramp-up in hiring, there’s a noticeable pullback in the number of seasonal workers being taken on for in-store assistance and online order fulfillment compared to previous years.

U.S. retailers are ramping up hiring for the holiday season but expect to take on fewer seasonal employees to help customers in stores and assemble online orders in warehouses

Retailers are set to add a total of 520,000 jobs in Q4, down from 564,200 in 2023, marking the second-lowest total since 2009.