As with many other elements of holiday 2025, the seasonal employment picture is somewhat contradictory. Amazon, one of the country’s largest retail employers, is standing pat: it will once again hire 250,000 seasonal workers, the same number as in 2024. And some retailers, notably Dick’s Sporting Goods, are planning to boost holiday hiring, from 8,000 last year to 14,000 this year.
The overall hiring picture, however, is less than rosy. In September, outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas forecast that U.S. retailers would add less than 500,000 jobs this season, which would represent the smallest increase since the recession-battered 2009 holiday season.For comparison, in Q4 2024 retailers added 543,100 jobs — and that figure represented a 4% decrease compared to 2023.
Notably, one of the nation’s largest supermarket retailers, Kroger, will trim its holiday hiring this year by nearly 30%, dropping from the 25,000 seasonal employees hired in 2024 to just 18,000 this year.
“Seasonal employers are facing a confluence of factors this year: tariffs loom, inflationary pressures linger, and many companies continue to rely on automation and permanent staff instead of large waves of seasonal hires,” said Andy Challenger, workplace expert and SVP of Challenger, Gray & Christmas in a statement.
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Retailers Wary of Revealing Hiring Numbers
Retailers themselves are being cautious about announcing just how many people they’re planning to add to the payroll this holiday season. Neither Kohl’s nor Target would commit to a specific number, with the latter retailer saying it would offer additional hours to existing workers and tap into a network of 43,000 “on demand” workers.
“While we could see a late hiring push if holiday sales surprise to the upside, the cautious pace of announcements so far suggests that companies are not betting on a big seasonal surge,” said Challenger. “This year may be more about doing more with less.”
Some of the explanation for the bullish hiring forecast from Dick’s Sporting Goods is that its prediction of hiring 14,000 associates includes 4,750 associates specifically for Foot Locker, which Dick’s acquired in May. Another reason for this retailer’s higher 2025 figure is that Dick’s is in expansion mode this holiday season: the retailer is planning to open 13 large-format House of Sport stores before the end of 2025.
Bath & Body Works, with its gift-friendly assortment, is making sure its 1,900 stores and five distribution centers will be fully staffed: the retailer is hiring 30,000 workers across the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico.Crafts retailer Michaels is planning on hiring 10,000 seasonal employees this year to help staff its 1,300 stores.
“A wave of uncertainty is impacting not just retailers, but also consumers heading into the final quarter of the year,” said Christmas. “With hiring slowing across the board, retailers may hire fewer workers themselves, while many of their shoppers slow spending.”
