For comparison, there were approximately 543,100 jobs added in the final quarter of 2024, according to that firm. That was a 4% drop from 2023. According to the firm, this year may be the weakest holiday hiring performance in 16 years.
“Seasonal employers are facing a confluence of factors this year: tariffs loom, inflationary pressures linger, and many companies continue to rely on automation and permanent staff instead of large waves of seasonal hires,” said Challenger, Gray & Christmas senior vice president Andy Challenger in a statement.
Target has announced it is offering more hours to its existing staff while also accepting applications for seasonal roles through a dedicated portal on the company website.
Other companies are following the Target model of more hours to existing staff in lieu of hiring seasonal employees, Challenger said.
But that doesn’t mean there aren’t seasonal jobs to be had.
Rally House manager Alexa Smith has a sandwich board sign outside her Dayton Mall store inviting job seekers to step inside.
She recently hired three and plans to hire up to four more to help the specialty sports merchandise store get through the busy Christmas shopping season.
Working knowledge of the latest Cincinnati Bengals trade or University of Dayton basketball schedule is not required.
“We look for if you like sports, but really it’s just about customer service,” Smith said.
Rally House seasonal employees are expected to have weekend and night availability through Jan. 1.
Like many seasonal retail positions, the job requires a lot of standing, straightening of merchandise and displays, and interacting with customers.
“It’s greeting people, meeting people,” said Roberta Pitman, a retired Trotwood Madison music teacher who will be spending her fourth holiday season as a Rally House sales associate. “My job is endless. I’ll always have a job.”
Not all seasonal jobs require folding clothes filling shopping bags. And not all pay the same.
A basic search of “seasonal” for Dayton Ohio on job search website Indeed brings up hundreds of positions paying anywhere from the current minimum wage of $10.70 an hour to more than $25 an hour for stocker at Whole Foods.
More than 700 seasonal jobs can be found when making similar searches on the OhioMeansJobs website at ohiomeansjobs.ohio.gov.
In the Springfield region, about 550 seasonal job openings are posted on the OhioMeansJobs site, along with nearly 1,000 in the Middletown area and more than 2,000 near Hamilton.
The jobs themselves are as varied as the pay - from sales associates to warehouse pickers to display setters.
And not all the seasonal jobs end after New Year’s Day.
Madelyn Bailey, manager of Carter’s OshKosh B’Gosh in Bridgewater Falls, said they hire seasonal help during the holiday shopping season who then work holidays and busy times throughout the year.
They receive company discounts and access to other regular employee perks such as the company’s college reimbursement program.
Bailey said her store is currently hiring seasonal help, and
“We’re getting all types (of applicants), from teens to grandmas,” Bailey said. “We just want people who genuinely want to be here. We want people who are people people.”
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