Seasonal Jobs 2026: Where the Holiday Hiring (and Pay) Went

Marcus spent the first week of November 2025 filling out job applications at the mall near his apartment. Fourteen of them, all for register and stockroom jobs paying around $15 an hour, and by Thanksgiving he'd heard back from exactly two.

The job he took wasn't in a store at all. It was at an Amazon delivery station twenty minutes away, loading vans at $20.50 an hour. He worked about 30 hours a week for ten weeks and cleared a little over $6,000 before taxes. In January, when the seasonal contracts ended, his site kept him on part-time.

If you're planning to pick up a seasonal job this year to cover the holidays or build a little cushion, Marcus's fall is the whole story in miniature. The old picture of holiday work, a name tag and a spot behind a cash register, is fading fast. The hiring is still out there. It has moved to a different building.

Holiday hiring shrank to a 16-year low

Every fall, the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas publishes a forecast for how many extra workers retailers will add for the holidays. Its projection for the 2025 season was the lowest since 2009: fewer than 500,000 seasonal positions, down from 543,100 the year before. To put that in perspective, 2009 was the bottom of the Great Recession.

The reasons stack up. Tariffs have raised the cost of imported goods, so retailers are cautious about both inventory and the staff to move it. Shoppers have kept a tight grip on their spending. And a lot of the work that used to need a seasonal army now runs on automation and year-round employees. The Washington Post reported in November 2025 that holiday jobs had become noticeably harder to find, with some economists pointing to AI and warehouse robotics as part of the reason.

None of those pressures let up over the past year. Going into the 2026 season, the safe assumption is more of the same: fewer openings and stiffer competition for each one. Employers also want to see you apply early and commit, which changes how you should approach the whole thing.

The money moved from the sales floor to the warehouse

The decline isn't spread evenly, and that gap is what matters for your paycheck.

Almost all of the shrinkage is happening on the store floor. Cashier, stockroom, and gift-wrap jobs are the ones vanishing. Warehouse, fulfillment, and package-delivery hiring has held roughly flat or even grown, because that machinery is what fills the online orders people still place by the millions.

The split shows up in the pay, too. A mall register job often starts near your state or local minimum wage. The logistics jobs pay more, sometimes a few dollars more per hour, which adds up quickly over a full season.

Amazon has said it plans to bring on about 250,000 people across its fulfillment and transportation network for the holidays, the same target it set the year before. Seasonal workers there earn more than $19 an hour, and newer full- and part-time roles average around $23. UPS staffs up its package operation every December and has paid seasonal package handlers roughly $21 an hour, with driving roles higher. Target, which opens its seasonal hiring in late September, pays store and supply-chain workers in a range that reaches about $24 depending on the role and location. Walmart, for the third year in a row, hasn't announced a splashy public hiring push at all, choosing instead to hand extra hours to the staff it already employs.

The honest trade-off

Warehouse and delivery money is better, but the work is harder on your body than folding sweaters. You're on your feet, lifting and moving, often on an overnight or early-morning shift, sometimes in a building that isn't heated to living-room temperature. You're trading comfort for a higher wage. If a physical job isn't realistic for you, a store role at a lower wage may still be the right call. Just walk in knowing the pay gap is the price of the easier shift.

Apply now, not the week before Thanksgiving

Timing is the cheapest advantage you have, and most people throw it away. Big employers post the bulk of their holiday roles eight to ten weeks before peak, which means the hiring is happening right now, in September and early October. The best-paying and most flexible shifts get claimed first. By the time the Black Friday scramble arrives, you're fighting over whatever's left.

If you worked a seasonal job somewhere last year and left on good terms, start there. A rehire is cheap and low-risk for an employer, so a short message to a former manager often jumps the line ahead of a cold application.

Treat the job as a paid audition

A seasonal contract can be worth more than a few weeks of extra cash. For a lot of workers, it's the side door into a permanent job.

Amazon has said that roughly a third of its seasonal hires end up staying on or coming back the next year. The American Staffing Association has found that about half of temporary workers view short-term assignments as a route into permanent work, and plenty of them get there. Employers use the season to audition people without committing. The reverse is true as well: you're auditioning them, and a reliable worker has real bargaining power once January hiring decisions come around.

The way to convert is unglamorous. Show up on time for every shift, learn the tasks fast, and around week two or three, tell your supervisor plainly that you'd like to be considered for a permanent spot and ask what it would take. Managers remember the person who says that, especially in January when they're deciding who to keep.

Don't let the tax withholding blindside you

One trap is worth flagging before you sign anything. A seasonal job usually comes with a W-2, and if you already have a main job, each employer's payroll system withholds as though it's your only income. Stack two jobs and you can end up under-withheld, which becomes a surprise bill in April. The fix is a quick W-4 adjustment or setting aside part of each check yourself, and it's worth understanding before your first paycheck clears.

The Bottom Line

Holiday work still pays, but the game has changed. The openings are fewer, they favor people who apply early, and the best money is in the warehouse and on the delivery route, not behind the register.

A few moves this week put you ahead of the people who wait.

First, apply to two or three fulfillment, delivery, or distribution-center openings, beyond the usual store jobs. Amazon, UPS, FedEx, and regional logistics companies are hiring right now, and they tend to pay several dollars an hour more than a retail floor role.

Second, if you want the job to outlast December, say so out loud in your first couple of weeks and back it up with perfect attendance. About a third of seasonal hires convert to permanent; aim to be one of them.

Third, protect yourself at tax time. Adjust your W-4, or park 15 to 20 percent of each seasonal check in savings, so a second income doesn't turn into an April headache.

Fourth, decide in advance where the money goes. If the whole point is to pay for the holidays without a January credit card hangover, route the pay into a separate account and spend from there.