The holiday job market is smaller this year, so competition is hot
Seasonal job postings are down about 8% in 2024 and are roughly flat with 2019.
For seasonal holiday workers, Mall Santa ain’t the only game in town — but it’s looking like there are fewer other options to go around.
Major retailers have been releasing their holiday hiring goals (250,000 for Amazon, 100,000 for Target, 32,000 for Macy’s), and the overall market for seasonal work appears to be down about 8% this year — the second lowest total in the past 15 years.
Fresh data from hiring site Indeed found that seasonal job postings are roughly flat with 2019 levels and down 12% from a 2021 peak. As shoppers splurged during the pandemic, retailers hired 634,000 workers in 2020 and 602,000 in 2021, according to federal jobs data. This year, they’re expected to onboard about 520,000 new workers over the final quarter of the year — a period that typically brings in more than half of annual revenue for retailers.
For seasonal work seekers, Indeed says searches for temporary holiday jobs are up 18% from last year, meaning competition is up.
Retail is taking up a larger share of holiday jobs than it has in recent years, too (66% as of late September, up from last year’s 58%). According to Indeed, the fastest-growing seasonal role is retail sales associate, with a national average salary of $15.89 an hour — almost $10 below the average hourly rate for retail workers. Positions for seasonal tanker-truck drivers are also growing quickly, along with restaurant staff, snowplow operators, and inventory support workers.
As you might expect, Halloween costume hub Party City, which emerged from bankruptcy about a year ago, staffed up about 3x faster in September than the average for companies of the same size. Mall staples like Victoria’s Secret, Claire’s, and Macy’s were also among Indeed’s top 10 fastest-hiring retailers.
Though about 30% of shoppers say they’ll spend less this holiday season than last year, analysts expect the average shopper’s spend (between gifts, travel, and entertainment) to surpass $1,600, a 7% increase from 2023. Retailers are hoping their hiring algebra will help them score a sizable chunk of that.
