US retailers and hospitality groups are hiring the smallest number of seasonal workers in more than a decade as tariffs and a slowing labour market weigh on holiday sales forecasts.

Jobs site ZipRecruiter said retailers are advertising 8.4 per cent fewer holiday jobs on its site than last year, while postings for temporary hospitality workers fell 12 per cent. Executive outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas forecast that US employers may hire fewer than 500,000 temporary workers in the last three months of 2025, the lowest total since 2009.

Each autumn, stores such as Walmart, Target and Macy’s typically announce plans to hire hundreds of thousands of temporary staff to stock shelves, run checkouts and bolster warehouse operations during their busiest period of the year. But the reduction in hiring reflects retail industry caution about the approaching holiday shopping season, with US consumers pinched amid persistent inflation and an uncertain economic outlook.