At a time when many companies are normally hoarding workers for the holiday shopping rush, seasonal work is scarcer than it has been in years as firms increasingly look to do more with less amid economic uncertainty and rising AI adoption.

Retailers will slash seasonal hiring to levels not seen since after the Great Recession, the National Retail Federation projects. Companies are expected to add 265,000 to 365,000 positions, the trade group’s CEO said in a conference call last week. That would be as much as a 40 percent drop from the 442,000 roles they added in 2024, the NRF noted, a reflection of how companies are attempting to offset tariff costs and tighten their budgets.

The staffing firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas also forecasts the weakest holiday hiring since 2009, “with only a

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