Holiday Hiring By the Numbers (Infographic)Check out these mind-blowing stats on seasonal employment and holiday spending.

ByCarly Okyle

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

We all know that in order to keep up with high demand during the holiday season, many companies hire more employees. This makes sense when you consider that about 20 percent of all retail sales are generated during the holiday season and that nearly all Americans celebrate a winter holiday. Still, the statistics on holiday hiring could surprise even seasoned veterans of the retail industry.

While holiday hires account for half of all new hires in the fourth quarter, their distribution is uneven; more new employees can be found at hobby, toy and game stores than anywhere else. At the same time, big-name department store retailers such as JC Penney, Macy's, Wal-Mart, Kohls and Target are collectively responsible for an estimated 300,000 hires, in some cases, increasing their staff by almost half. Meanwhile, the U.S. Postal Service hires fewer workers than both FedEx and UPS despite delivering more packages than those two companies combined.

While you have visions of dollar signs dancing in your head, read on to see other figures in the infographic below, courtesy of human-resource firmAddeco.

Click to Enlarge+
Holiday Hiring By the Numbers (Infographic)

Related:Tips for Running an Awesome Holiday Marketing Campaign (Infographic)

Carly Okyle

Assistant Editor, Contributed Content

Carly Okyle is an assistant editor for contributed content at Entrepreneur.com.

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