NEW YORK U.S. retailers will hire the lowest number of seasonal workers for this holiday season since the final quarter of 2008, due to increased labor costs and shaky consumer confidence, according to a report by Challenger, Gray & Christmas shared exclusively with Reuters.

Retailers are expected to add just 410,000 seasonal jobs this season, as consumers keep a tight hold on spending and as retailers struggle to pass on rising costs of labor at a time inflation is slowing, said Andrew Challenger, senior vice president at executive coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, which tracks government data and hiring trends.

(Reporting by Siddharth Cavale in New York)