Two consecutive months of sales gains may provide just enough confidence to trigger increased seasonal hiring by the nation’s retailers this year. However, the number of holiday workers added to retail payrolls in October, November and December is still likely to fall short of pre-recession levels.

In its annual holiday hiring forecast, global outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc., said retailers may continue to be cautious when it comes to staffing, knowing that the economy is at a fragile stage of the recovery and could turn on a moment’s notice.

In the final three months of last year, retail payrolls grew by 501,400 workers, according to non-seasonally adjusted data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That was a 30 percent increase from 2008, when holiday hiring fell to a 22-year low of 384,300 extra holiday helpers.

Challenger said it sees some reasons for optimism. Job-cut announcements by retailers have fallen 65 percent from a year ago. Retailers announced 89,242 job cuts between January and August 2009. This year, the eight-month total is down to 30,805.

Though retail payrolls remain lower than they were a year ago – 14,463,000 as of August, compared with 14,497,000 in August 2009 – a recent hiring surge has resulted in a net gain of 329,400 new workers since February.

Meanwhile, retail sales increased 0.3 percent in July and 0.4 percent in August. The numbers were even better when car sales were removed from the mix, with purchases climbing 0.6 percent. Spending at clothing stores rose 1.2 percent.