Retail trade holiday employment buildup and layoff, 2017–2024

Employment in retail trade industries that hire seasonal employees to meet holiday demand increased by 494,000 from October to December 2023, a stronger holiday buildup than in 2022. The subsequent holiday layoff in January and February was smaller than the buildup.

In the three years before the COVID-19 pandemic-induced recession (February–April 2020), retailers added an average of 591,000 seasonal jobs during the holiday buildup and laid off an average of 84,000 more employees than hired. During this period, the largest post-buildup layoff occurred in the 2018–2019 holiday season, when retailers laid off over 130,000 more employees than hired during the buildup.

After the onset of the pandemic, the retail trade holiday employment buildup and layoff trends shifted. In the first two holiday seasons following the onset of the pandemic, retailers added more jobs during the holiday buildup than the prior 3-year average of 591,000, adding 634,000 jobs in the 2020–2021 holiday season and 602,000 jobs in the 2021–2022 holiday season. In addition to the strong buildup during these two holiday seasons, the holiday layoffs were weaker, resulting in retailers laying off fewer employees than hired during the buildup. Retailers laid off 127,000 fewer employees than added during the buildup in the 2020–2021 holiday season and 168,000 fewer employees than added during the buildup in the 2021–2022 holiday season.

During the 2022–2023 and 2023–2024 holiday seasons, the buildup shifted from being stronger than pre-pandemic trends to being weaker; retailers added 454,000 jobs in 2022–2023 and 494,000 jobs in 2023–2024. The holiday layoffs were also closer to the buildup, with retailers laying off 52,000 fewer employees than hired during the buildup in the 2022–2023 holiday season and 30,000 fewer than hired in the buildup during the 2023–2024 holiday season.

While the retail trade sector comprises nine industries, this TED focuses on the five industries that hire seasonal employees to meet holiday demand: furniture, home furnishings, electronics, and appliance retailers; general merchandise retailers; health and personal care retailers; clothing, clothing accessories, shoe, and jewelry retailers; and sporting goods, hobby, musical instrument, book, and miscellaneous retailers. Data are from the Current Employment Statistics program and are not seasonally adjusted.