(CNN) If you're looking for a store employee to help you out while shopping this holiday season, you're not alone. Retailers themselves are having a lot of trouble finding the help they need.

With unemployment rate so low , retailers are scrambling to find workers. They're raising pay and benefits over what was offered in the past, sometimes substantially. And they started looking for seasonal help much earlier than normal.

"We've heard a lot about firms looking for people in July and August for holiday hiring," said Jack Kleinhenz, chief economist for the National Retail Federation.

Still, with the national unemployment rate matching a 50-year low, many retailers are having to get by with fewer seasonal workers than in the past. The NRF estimates that total seasonal hiring will be between 530,000 to 590,000.

That may sound like a lot, but it could be the fewest number of seasonal workers hired by retailers since the Great Recession ended in 2009 -- down as much as 30% from where holiday hiring stood in 2013, according to the NRF.

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