NEW YORK --- The odds of landing a part-time job at department store operator Bealls Outlet Stores Inc. this holiday season are slimmer than getting into Harvard: It's one out of every 45.

Don't think the chances are any better at 7-Eleven. One California store received more than 100 applicants in a week and a half for jobs that pay $8.50 per hour -- and the retailer doesn't even usually hire holiday workers.

From department stores to call centers, managers who only a year ago had to scramble to fill holiday jobs are seeing a surge in the number of seasoned applicants -- many of them laid off in other sectors and desperate for a way to pay the bills.

The flood of jobseekers comes as the retail industry cuts back on holiday hiring because of the drop-off in consumer spending, and the applicants -- who differ from the usual pool, teens or stay-at-home moms looking for spending money -- reflect the nation's quickly deteriorating job market.

"I thought it was going to be pretty easy, but I am not the only one looking for a job. There are thousands of us going for the same thing," said Kimberly Caparo, of Chesterfield, Mich., who has applied for part-time jobs at Toys "R'' Us Inc., Home Depot Inc. and Lowe's Cos. Inc. in recent weeks since she and her husband were laid off by American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc.

At UPS Inc., which is just starting to ramp up its holiday hiring, as much as 30 percent of the seasonal hires in the Northeast are coming from the ranks of the recently laid off, said spokeswoman Ronna Charles Branch. In the past, she said, applicants for holiday jobs at the world's biggest shipping carrier were largely students.

Jean Telfort, a 41-year-old Army veteran, has applied for dozens of part-time jobs, including at Macy's and Nordstrom Inc., with no success. He needs money to help pay the rent and to pay down his $60,000 credit card bill.

"I am looking for anything to carry me over," said the native of Freeport, N.Y., who after 11 years in the Army returned to Hofstra University, where he's pursuing a degree in public relations.

Since the financial meltdown intensified in September, leading to massive layoffs across several industries, a growing number of the unemployed have been turning to lower-paying jobs in retail, which they thought could help them get by until they found full-time work in their specialized fields or retrain in other areas.

"It would be money coming in, even if it's a little bit," said Ms. Caparo, 32, who is finishing up a college degree in business administration and does not plan to go back to the battered auto industry. "It's money that I don't have to take out."

But given the shakiness of the retailing industry amid a series of bankruptcies, store closings and liquidations, laid-off workers are having a hard time finding any jobs.

John Challenger, the chief executive of Chicago-based outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, noted that holiday hiring will fall significantly below last year's total, which was the lowest since 2003. And those with pink slips shouldn't count on new job opportunities even after the holidays, since even more retailers are expected to file for bankruptcy.