Small Business Holiday Hiring Down By 29% Over Last Year

Small business owners are downshifting their hiring plans as the holiday season begins to ramp up, says a new report by Alignable.

The poll finds only 7% of small business employers across all industries are looking to hire holiday help in Q4 this year. That’s down 29% from last year's seasonal hiring rate of 36%. More than half (54%) of small businesses expect to make less money in the fourth quarter of this year compared to the same period last year. Only 29 percent of small businesses say they have fully recovered economically from the pandemic.

Those surveyed said recessionary trends, high labor costs, ongoing difficulty finding the right staffers, and lower expectations for revenue were the reasons for holding back on holiday hiring.

Here are some other highlights from the study:

-Only 15% of small, independent retailers are planning to hire temporary workers this holiday season, that’s less than half the percentage that hired extra workers in Q4, 2021 (32%).

-Supporting this figure, 43% of retailers have scaled back their inventory purchases for the holiday season, compared to last year.

-The year-over-year comparison for owners of independent restaurants is even more severe, as 17% of them plan to bring in temporary workers this holiday, compared to 56% last year (a 39% difference).

-Looking at the rates of all small businesses that are not hiring permanent staffers at all for the rest of the year, this situation becomes even more pronounced. At this point, 67% of all small business operators say they’re in “hiring freeze mode” when it comes to permanent, full-time workers, up 4% from last month.

Go here to see the full report on small business holiday hiring and related topics.