Chilling labor market, jobseeker surge sets stage for heated holiday job hunt, data shows

If landing a seasonal job is on this year’s holiday wishlist, you could be facing some stiff competition. 

Key findings from an Indeed Hiring Lab report released last week indicate the once-frenzied labor market is cooling. As of September 24, seasonal postings – which tend to ramp up in September and peak in November – dropped 12% from their 2021 peak, but still came in 0.5% higher than the same time in 2019. 

However, Allison Shrivastava, an Indeed Hiring Lab associate economist and author of the report, believes the drop in postings is not a negative sign. 

“2021 and 2022 was such a hot labor market with such high demand for work. We needed to come down from that really, really high demand, and we’re doing so. We’ve returned to about 2019 posting levels, so even though it is a drop, I like to think of it as more of a return in that regard,” she told Fox News Digital.

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At the same time, the cooling overall demand has been met with intensifying interest among seasonal jobseekers. Searches are up 18% compared to last year, “signaling more competition for available holiday positions,” the report says. 

“That could be for a number of reasons. It could be that more people are interested in seasonal work to help kind of counterbalance the expenses of the holiday season. It also could be that more people are feeling comfortable working with in-person jobs now,” Shrivastava explained.

“It could be, too, that the job market is a little bit cooler now anyway, and so maybe people are just wanting to grab on to [as many] more jobs as they can.”

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Among the fastest growing seasonal jobs, retail reigns supreme, with sales associate positions seeing a 235.90% increase, followed by tanker drivers at 153% and restaurant staff at 90.80%. 

“Retail, even outside of the seasonal market, has been really strong,” Shrivastava pointed out. 

As of late September, the sector accounted for 66% of all seasonal postings, surpassing last year’s share by nearly 8 percentage points and besting pre-pandemic levels by 4%. 

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“Postings for retail positions are still well above their pre-pandemic baseline, which means consumer demand for retail spending has been really strong, which is a good sign. That’s something that has been a pretty strong thread of demand throughout the last few years as we’ve kind of experienced this roller coaster of an economy,” Shrivastava said. 

“That’s been a nice, solid through line, and it seems as though employers are pretty confident that that’s going to be the case in the holiday season as well,” she added.

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