2021 Seasonal Hiring Final Report
Published January 11, 2022
Retailers Added 7% Fewer Holiday Hires
Despite record need and high demand, companies in Retail added 7% fewer seasonal jobs and those in Transportation and Warehousing added .14% fewer seasonal jobs this year compared to 2020, according to an analysis of non-seasonally adjusted data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) by global outplacement and business and executive coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.
Source: Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.
Retailers added 684,100 jobs in the final quarter of 2021 compared to 736,300 jobs added in the same period last year. It is 1.8% higher than the 672,300 Retail jobs added in 2019.
Challenger predicted Retailers would add 700,000 jobs this holiday season, down from the 736,000 jobs added last year, mainly due to the difficulty employers are having filling in-person roles.
Commentary
“The onslaught of COVID cases, the difficulty parents are having securing child care, the sheer availability of jobs kept many from taking Retail roles,” said Andrew Challenger, Senior Vice President of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.
Source: Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.
Related: Nov. 2021 Seasonal Retail Hiring Update; Seasonal Hiring Down in 2021 Compared to 2020
Transportation & Warehousing Added Nearly As Many As In 2020
Transportation and Warehousing added 493,100 seasonal jobs in the final quarter of the year, virtually the same as the 493,800 jobs added at the end of 2020. Non-seasonally adjusted figures from the BLS suggest this industry employed 6,363,200 workers in December 2021, compared to 5,998,400 at the end of 2020 and 6,037,400 at the end of 2019.
“The growing shift to e-commerce is driving increases in employment in this sector, something we’ll continue to see as more and more retailers shift much of their business online” said Challenger.
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