CHICAGO (AP) – A leading job placement firm says retailers last month hired a record number of seasonal workers.

Challenger, Gray and Christmas says its analysis of data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows retailers added 465,500 seasonal workers in November, up 21 percent from a year ago. And it’s the most ever added during what is typically the busiest hiring month of the holiday hiring season.

CEO John Challenger says an early Thanksgiving and an early start to traditional Black Friday sales may have contributed to strong early holiday sales and the need for additional workers.

Challenger says seasonal hiring this year could reach 760,000. That would be the strongest retail holiday hiring season since 2000.