Dive Brief:
- Continuing the decline in seasonal hiring, retailers hired 263,800 workers in November, a 0.23% bump from last year, according to an analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data by Challenger, Gray and Christmas shared with Retail Dive.
- From October to November, retailers hired 413,100 workers, up 1.5% from October and November in 2022. The transportation and warehousing industry saw its employment numbers drop 53,900 positions from November 2022 to 6,872,900 workers this year, per the report.
- Seasonal hiring announcements have fallen to their lowest point since 2013. American companies have said they are hiring 573,300 seasonal workers in September, October and November 2023, slightly higher than the 2013 total of 518,000 hiring announcements, according to the report.
Dive Insight:
The limited hiring happening during the retail industry’s busiest season partially reflects a cautious economic climate. Beyond retailers, employers, particularly small and midsized businesses, have struggled to hire workers due to few advancement opportunities and lack of flexibility, Andrew Challenger, senior vice president of Challenger, Gray and Christmas, said in a statement.
“Despite spending, particularly online, we are not seeing employers who would staff up during this period add a lot of employees. This may be due to cost of labor and the fact that many companies expect slower growth heading into 2024,” Challenger said in a statement. “These are announced hiring plans, and companies who are cautious or uncertain about the future economy are not going to make a public commitment. In this economic environment, it is not surprising to see fewer plans.”
Challenger, Gray and Christmas’ November report also pointed to a slowdown in seasonal hiring. Last month, the company released a report indicating that retailers shrank their workforce by 72,182 positions in October, a 258% spike in job cuts from the year prior.
Plus, more research from iCIMS found a mismatch between job openings and hiring. The job applications rose by nearly half, and retail hiring dropped by 12% and 25%, respectively. Similarly, the transportation sector saw its job applications increase by 13%, but hiring fell by 22%, and openings dipped by 2%.
Though seasonal retail hiring is down, and some major retailers are continuing to pad their workforce in preparation for the holidays. In September, Amazon said it planned to hire 250,000 full-time, part-time and seasonal workers to aid its transportation and fulfillment operations. Other major retailers, including Nordstrom, Macy’s and Target, have also made announcements regarding their seasonal hiring plans in recent months.
