Hiring plans among US employers for the year through September were at their lowest since 2009, according to a new report, underscoring the labor market’s stagnant state. The weaker planned headcount was largely fueled by a steep drop in seasonal hiring announcements, the global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas said in a report Thursday. So far this year, employers have planned to add 204,939 jobs, compared to 483,590 at this point last year. The last time year-to-date hiring was this sluggish was 2009, when companies recorded 169,385 new hires as the economy was clawing its way out of the Great ... (full story)