Hiring helps retailers get ready for holiday season
As American consumers begin rushing into retail stores in the coming weeks to buy items on their gift lists, merchants are doing their best to prepare for the influx of shoppers that are expected. Many businesses have announced that they are planning to hire more temporary employees this year than last year to help with the large amounts of customers during the holiday season. As of now, those employment numbers have only increased slightly from 2011's total of temp retail workers. On the other hand, companies are expecting the best holiday shopping season in five years, and additional staff members are one effective way that retailers can boost their winter sales.
Retail seasonal jobs added in October
Talent Management reports that according to the latest data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, retailers hired 130,100 jobs to their payrolls throughout the month of October. This is a slight increase from the 128,900 temporary employees that were hired in October 2011. However, last year's seasonal hiring numbers were quite positive, as 660,200 jobs were added overall. It is expected that this year's employment gains will surpass last year's amounts. It will definitely be better than the lowest levels of seasonal hiring in 22 years, which happened in 2008, when retailers brought on only an additional 324,000 staff members to help with the holiday rush.
Of the businesses that are increasing their hiring efforts the most this holiday season, Best Buy, Gap and Toys R Us are at the top of the list, states Forbes. Citing a survey by CareerBuilder, the source reports that 36 percent of companies nationwide are bringing on temp workers this year, compared to the 29 percent who said the same in 2011. In addition, 39 percent of businesses stated they plan to keep their seasonal employees after the winter months and offer them full-time positions.
Holiday workers contribute to high expectations
Retailers are significantly optimistic about this year's holiday sales, and the large numbers of temp workers could be a contributor to this feeling. The Wall Street Journal reports that according to recent research by BDO USA, merchants are anticipating a 3.7 percent increase in same-store sales this holiday season. This is the highest that the figure has been in five years, as it stood at a 5 percent increase expectation in 2007.
