Post ContentAccording to The New York Times, every year, retailers are in a race to hire workers for their stores and distribution centers in preparation for the holiday shopping season. This seasonal hiring is often seen as an indicator of the health of the retail industry and the overall economy in the United States. However, recent data released by the Labor Department in November showed that seasonal hiring in the retail trade sector in 2024 was lower than the previous year. This could be due to changes in how companies approach seasonal hiring.
As the economy reopened in late 2020 and early 2021, retailers faced challenges in hiring workers, leading them to spread out their hiring throughout the year instead of relying on rapid hiring in the weeks leading up to the holiday season. Some retailers have also prioritized offering more shifts to their current employees before hiring seasonal workers. Despite this, major retailers like Target and Bath & Body Works have stated that they expect their seasonal hiring to be on par with the previous year. Macy’s plans to hire 31,500 workers, slightly lower than their target in 2023, while Amazon announced that it would hire 250,000 people to support its fulfillment and transportation operations, in line with their goal from the previous year. These positions at Amazon include full-time, part-time, and seasonal roles.
It’s important to note that seasonal hiring in the retail industry is not limited to just stores. With the rise of e-commerce shopping during the Covid pandemic, retailers have also focused on hiring workers for their distribution centers that handle online orders. This has implications beyond the holiday season, as many retailers convert a portion of their temporary workers into permanent positions. For example, Gap Inc., which owns brands like Banana Republic and Athleta, reported that one in ten of their seasonal workers in 2024 were hired for full-time positions. Similarly, more than half of Target’s seasonal workers were offered full-time positions after the 2023 holiday shopping season.
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