The Brief

'Tis the season to be jolly. That is, unless you're a worker who was banking on getting a seasonal job and haven't been able to find one this season.

Every year, American retailers hire extra help as the holiday shopping season approaches. In recent years, these jobs have numbered roughly around half a million per season. These seasonal jobs run the gamut. Think temporary cashiers, gift wrappers, sales associates, greeters, merchandisers, warehouse unloaders, delivery drivers.

But the quintessential — and most iconic — seasonal worker has got to be… Santa Claus. In addition to sliding down chimneys to deliver presents on Christmas, Jolly Old Saint Nicholas takes gigs at places like malls, department stores, corporate events, and private parties in the weeks leading up to Dec. 25.

However, this year, Santa may be making fewer trips from the North Pole than in years past. As we report in this week's Planet Money newsletter, demand for professional Santas seems to have cooled. It's one small part of a broader decline in the demand for seasonal workers this holiday season. It got us wondering how the market for Santas fluctuates with the business cycle, which sectors of the Santa market are recession-proof, and whether a decline in Santa demand this season could be a sign that the U.S. economy is going down the chimney.

The Grinch that stole Santa visits

Mitch Allen is the founder and "Head Elf" at Hire Santa, an agency that provides Santas for holiday events around the nation and world (we talked to Allen in a past Planet Money newsletter). Allen estimates there are probably around nine or ten thousand professional or "near professional" Santa Clauses in the United States.

Sure, Allen says, his company may occasionally get requests for Santa at "Christmas in July"-style events, when Santa shows up in a Hawaiian shirt and flip flops. But, no surprise, prime time for his business is right now. He says demand for Santa typically begins in early November, picks up steam on weekends in December and explodes the week before Christmas, especially on Christmas Eve. "It really falls off after Christmas Eve, like midnight Christmas Eve," Allen says.

Allen says he's seeing less demand for Santa visits this season. His leading indicator for Santa demand is what he calls "leads," or inquiries to his business to book Santa at events. On that metric, he says, "we're down almost 27% year to date, compared with last year. And last year was down compared with the year before."

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Shea Cannon Photography

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Hire Santa

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My family has experienced this decline in Santa appearances first hand. Last year, when our son was about 15 months old, we took him for his first time to sit on Santa's lap. A hotel in Lake Tahoe had a public event that served as a toy drive for Toys for Tots. There was festive music, ice skating, skiing, hot chocolate, sleigh rides, and, of course, Santa. To be honest, our son was too young to understand why we were putting him on an old, bearded man's lap, but the whole experience was fun for us parents and we got cute pictures. We wanted to go back this year, but the hotel decided not to host its community event this year. No Santa. Bah, humbug!

Candles in a blackout of official economic statistics

We're living through a weird economic moment right now, with mixed signals about how good or bad the economy is doing. And we just had the longest government shutdown in American history, which not only hurt the economy, but basically created a blackout for official economic statistics. Since the end of the shutdown, the Trump administration has delayed and even canceled some economic reports, and we're now all sort of in the dark, trying to figure out what the heck the economy really looks like right now.

But there are some candles illuminating what's going on — and this seeming decline of demand for Santa could be one small one suggesting that the overall economy is sleighing downward. It's part of a broader decline in the demand for seasonal workers this year, something a number of sources have reported in recent weeks. For instance, back in late September, Challenger, Gray, & Christmas, a human-resources firm, released their annual seasonal hiring report. They projected that hiring this holiday retail season would "fall to its lowest point since the recession-hit season of 2009."

Part of the story could be that holiday shopping is increasingly moving online, and brick-and-mortar retailers are struggling and maybe hiring less help. That's an ongoing, long-term structural change to the economy that doesn't say much about whether we're heading into recession. However, there are a number of signs that softened demand for seasonal workers is related more to a broader slowdown in the economy.

Andrew Challenger, a senior vice president at Challenger, Gray, & Christmas, told us we haven't seen a miraculous turnaround in the market for seasonal workers since they issued their projection back in late September. Even more, he says, the broader labor market seems to have only gotten worse since they made their projection. In November, his company, which also tracks layoffs, reported an alarming spike in companies announcing layoffs. That includes prominent online retailers like Amazon and delivery companies like UPS. "So we have two signals, and both are not good for the labor market or seasonal hiring," Challenger says.

Likewise, Indeed Hiring Lab, which leverages the job site Indeed's large amount of data to provide insights about the labor market, recently reported they're also seeing bad news in the job market this season.

"What we're seeing right now in seasonal hiring is kind of a microcosm of what we're seeing in the broader labor market, which is that things are cooling down, things are slowing down," says Cory Stahle, a senior economist at Indeed Hiring Lab.

Is Santa recession-proof?

The National Bureau of Economic Research, the official body that calls recessions, defines a recession as "a significant decline in economic activity that is spread across the economy and lasts more than a few months" (listen to our Planet Money episode, "Recession Referees," for more about this). The lack of official economic statistics for the last few months makes it hard to say whether we're on our way to a recession — or whether we're already in one.

But, while reporting this story, we've found ourselves wondering: could declining demand for Santa visits during the holidays potentially be a recession indicator? Like, can it be a sign we're in a ho-ho-horrible economy? Do paid Santa appearances boom in good economic times and go bust during recessions? Or is demand for Santa fairly recession-proof?

Hire Santa didn't officially launch until 2012 — after the Great Recession — and Head Elf Allen couldn't tell us much about the hard data on how Santa demand fluctuates over the business cycle. Moreover, his business doesn't capture the full market for Santa, including DIY Santas where people buy or rent Santa costumes and do events themselves. But Allen did offer us a theory of how he thinks demand for professional Santas is affected by recessions.

For one, he says, there will always be parts of the economy where demand for Santa is fairly recession-proof. He says that many businesses use Santa appearances to "help drive traffic and associate their brand with Christmas." In this way, a store or mall paying for Santa to sit in a chair and converse with children could be seen as a kind of loss leader, a product or service that costs a company money as a way to attract more customers, nudge them to shop, and help their business make more money. Think like free or cheap alcohol at a casino. Allen says that, even in recessions, certain types of businesses and organizations will always want to hire Santa.

"But I don't think that translates to a company party or a home visit," Allen says. "That's not something that you have to have. You can go to the mall and see Santa. You can go to outdoor stores and see Santa. You can see Santa if you want to. You don't have to have 'em come to your home or office."

Indeed, that's a pattern that Allen believes he's seeing with a cursory look at his company's data. He believes the primary driver of the decline of demand for paid Santa visits is from private holiday parties and events.

"Consumers are not reaching out to have Santa or Mrs. Claus or other holiday entertainers come to their home or office for a Christmas party," Allen says. "And so I view that as like people scaling back their own Christmas plans. They may still be having parties but they're not having sort of blowout parties with Santa and other holiday characters there." Allen pointed to recent reports that companies are laying off workers and that consumer credit card debt is at an all time high. It makes sense why people might be scaling back.

So, yeah, maybe a big decline in Santa appearances could be a recession indicator.

The good news, Allen says, is that, while overall demand is down, he's still seeing plenty of requests for Santa.

In other words, don't worry, Santa is coming to town. There just might be fewer places or times to see him this year.
Copyright 2025 NPR

A brothel operating from more than 30 locations in residences and hotels across California has been shut down, according to authorities.

On Friday, the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office announced the arrest of two Hacienda Heights residents, Kebin Dong and Wei Nie, on charges of pimping, pandering and conspiracy.

The two allegedly owned and operated a website offering sex services. The investigation found more than 60 profiles of women posted on the site.

Earlier this week, law enforcement officials from multiple agencies searched several suspected brothel sites in both Ventura and Los Angeles counties.

Bail for the two suspects is set at $200,000 each.

Topline:

Why it matters: Wasserman has been under fire for racy emails he exchanged decades ago with Ghislaine Maxwell, convicted sex trafficker and the ex-girlfriend of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The emails were made public as part of the release of millions of documents related to Epstein by the Justice Department in January.

Why now: In a memo obtained by the Wall Street Journal, Wasserman told his staff that he had "become a distraction" to the work of the high-profile talent agency that he founded more than two decades ago.

In recent days, a number of artists — including musician Chappell Roan — have said they are cutting ties with the Wasserman agency.

Background: Critics have also called for Wasserman to resign as head of LA28, the nonprofit and organizing body behind the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028.

Earlier this week, the board of LA28 expressed support for Wasserman.

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The Los Angeles Unified School Board will vote Tuesday on a plan to eliminate jobs as the district contends with several years of spending more money than it brings in.

The reduction in force (RIF) vote is the first step in a monthslong process that could result in layoffs at the district’s central office and schools.

In meeting materials posted late Friday night, the district proposed issuing notices to thousands of employees and closing hundreds of additional positions at the central office.

The move would save approximately $250 million, part of an overall $1.4 billion “fiscal stabilization plan.”

“Even with approval,” the plan states, “with available reserves already being fully utilized, further reductions will be necessary based on the multi-year projections.”

Why is the board voting on potential job cuts?

For the past two years, the district has relied on reserves to backfill a multi-billion-dollar deficit. That deficit comes as enrollment has declined steeply but expenses have not.

There are more than 40% fewer students compared to the early 2000s. At the same time, as costs have increased, the district has not closed schools or significantly reduced staff. LAUSD hired more staff to support students during the pandemic, and now the federal relief dollars that initially funded those positions are gone.

What’s in the plan?

Reductions in force are proposed for several categories including “un-funded” positions, central office staff and at schools that support higher needs students.

The RIF proposal would:

• Authorize notices to about 2,600 certificated and classified contract management employees and certificated administrators (e.g. teachers, counselors, etc.).
• Close 657 central office and centrally funded classified positions. More than a third of these are IT technicians, by far the largest group.
• Reduce hours for 52 positions.
• Reduce pay for 22 positions.

“In total this represents less than 1% of the total Los Angeles Unified workforce,” the materials note.

It is unclear how many positions included in the proposed reduction in force will ultimately result in people being laid off. Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said in a previous board meeting that a RIF did not guarantee layoffs, as staff could be reassigned to other positions or given the opportunity to transfer schools.

The district's budget outlook could also change as employees retire or move to jobs elsewhere, etc.

What happens now? 

LAUSD must vote on the reduction in force before March 15, the deadline for California school districts to notify staff they may be laid off. Decisions have to be finalized by the end of June.

In a letter sent earlier this month, the unions representing LAUSD teachers, support staff and principals asked the board to delay the RIF vote until there is more information available about state funding and the public has more time to understand the proposed cuts.

United Teachers Los Angeles members recently gave their leadership the power to call a strike if the union can’t reach a contract deal with the district.

How can I weigh in?

The board meets Tuesday at 10 a.m. Registration for public comment opens Monday at 9 a.m. Speakers can comment by phone or in person and are generally limited to two minutes.

You can also email all board members here or find your individual representative below or leave a voicemail message at (213) 443-4472, by 5 p.m. the day before the meeting .

In case you haven’t heard, a 3-year-old, female gray wolf was found last week near Lancaster.

Experts say it's the first time we’ve seen one of these carnivores in L.A. County in a century.

The young gray wolf is officially tagged as BEY03F. But Paula Ficara, executive director of the Apex Protection Project, has a better name.

“Everyone has decided to call her bae, which is really cute because that’s her number: B-E-Y. So for Valentines she can be your Bae: B-A-E,” Ficara said with a chuckle.

Ficara’s nonprofit has the mission of protecting captive-born wolves and wolf dogs, as well as wolves in the wild. They have a sanctuary in Acton, where 23 wolves live.

She said people have had a lot of questions about BEY: Is she sick? Is she a lone wolf?

“The truth is that ... the wolves are coming down. They’re migrating naturally back to their original habitat. ... She’s a young adult and she’s decided to go off in the hopes of starting her own family,” Ficara said.

It’s not impossible but unlikely that she’ll find a mate this far south. Ficara said she’s likely to go back home to Northern California if she can’t spot a partner within a couple weeks or so.

Steve Wastell, Ficara’s husband of 30 years and director of operations at Apex, explained their biggest concern while the wolf is in L.A. County.

“The last wolf that came down, almost this far, on his way back up, ended up being hit by a car. So that’s one of the biggest things that could happen to her,” Wastell said.

A male gray wolf, OR93, traveled as far down as Ventura County in 2021. But sadly, the wolf was hit by a vehicle and killed along Interstate 5 in Kern County.

It's part of the reason why Ficara and Wastell started the "Wolf Crossing" campaign. They’re encouraging people to post homemade wolf crossing signs at wildlife corridors, trailheads and other places where roads meet wild.

“Obviously, not everyone is going to slow down on the highway. But just to bring a little more awareness that there may be a wolf crossing,” Wastell said.

One of their first wolf crossing participants? A group of school-age kids who stopped by the sanctuary recently to learn about wolves and make a sign of their own to post in their area.

“They had just met most of our wolves here, face to face. And they were super excited about protecting and super excited about this wolf being down here. So they were like, 'Yeah, let's do it!'” Wastell said.

Wastell and Ficara are encouraging everyone to make a sign and post to social media in the hopes it will make L.A. a little more hospitable for our visitor from the north.