Seasonal hiring is up so far in 2026, but demand is changing across roles

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‘Tis the season for holiday hiring.

From a bird’s eye view, 2026 looks optimistic so far. Seasonal job postings were up about 10% year over year on Indeed as of September 30, according to an analysis from the Indeed Hiring Lab.

This increase is “a microcosm of what we’re seeing in the broader labor market,” Cory Stahle, a senior economist at Indeed, told HR Brew, adding that while hiring overall is still softer than it was before and in the years following the pandemic, small upticks suggest early signs of optimism. “There’s more movement we want to see, but at the same time, things are starting to trend in a more positive direction,” he said.

Something’s shifting. But demand for specific roles is changing. Retail jobs have long taken up the lion’s share of seasonal positions—and still do—but other roles are starting to take up space. Retail accounted for 61% of all seasonal postings on Indeed, down from closer to two-thirds of such roles in 2019. Meanwhile, warehouse work like loading and stocking roles increased from 3.5% in 2019 to 9% this year.

“You can see the clear rise of e-commerce,” Stahle said.

Look no further than Amazon. The ecommerce giant recently announced plans to hire 300,000 workers this holiday season (although that figure includes regular full-time and part-time hires, in addition to those for temporary seasonal work). That’s a 20% increase from 2025, and marks the first time in three years that it’s raised its hiring expectations for the period.

Meanwhile, retailers including Dick’s Sporting Goods and Michaels expect to make fewer seasonal hires in 2026 than in past years, while Target and Walmart in recent years have announced plans to assign more seasonal hours to current employees.

Shift to part-time. Some large employers have prioritized hiring part-time workers over seasonal ones. Job postings explicitly labeled as seasonal made up around 20% of all listings on Indeed at the end of last month, down from 34% in 2025. During that same period, part-time roles rose from 38% to 49%. (Full-time roles remained unchanged.)

That could be an indicator that employers expect demand for labor beyond just the fourth quarter, Stahle said.

“I think it’s encouraging that we saw a pickup in these part time jobs among some of these large employers who are mostly retailers,” he said. And workers just looking for some extra cash this holiday season still have options. “The rest of the contingency of people doing the hiring has still pushed seasonal jobs up from last year,” Stahle added.

Still hiring for seasonal roles? Start early. For employers that plan to hire extra workers ahead of the end-of-year rush, Stahle recommended moving quickly. Employers have started posting their seasonal roles earlier and earlier; Indeed’s analysis found that more seasonal jobs were posted in August and late September than in recent years.

And demand from workers is up as well: Desktop searches for seasonal roles grew 28% year over year, according to Indeed’s analysis. If employers want to hire the best talent available, they’ll have to be proactive in attracting them.

“The competition is going to be a little more stiff this year. We are seeing that other employers have started earlier,” Stahle said.