NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. retailers will hire the lowest number of seasonal workers for this holiday season since the final quarter of 2008, due to increased labor costs and shaky consumer confidence, according to a report by Challenger, Gray & Christmas shared exclusively with Reuters.
Retailers are expected to add just 410,000 seasonal jobs this season, as consumers keep a tight hold on spending and as retailers struggle to pass on rising costs of labor at a time inflation is slowing, said Andrew Challenger, senior vice president at executive coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, which tracks government data and hiring trends.
(Reporting by Siddharth Cavale in New York)
