Inside the Suddenly Cutthroat Business of Holiday Hires

Big retailers are offering big incentives. Can small businesses keep up?

Historically, fall is when retailers begin staffing up to ensure they can serve the shoppers who will flood in at the stroke of midnight on Black Friday. In fact, the National Retail Federation estimates brands added 475,000 to 575,000 holiday workers in 2020 alone.

But as the 2021 holiday season approaches, there’s already a widely reported disconnect between job openings and unemployed Americans. In other words, the latter are not filling the former—and that could spell trouble for retailers this season if they lack staff to serve in-store shoppers, restock shelves and fulfill online orders.

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This story first appeared in the Oct. 4, 2021, issue of Adweek magazine. Click here to subscribe.