Written by Hallelujah Hadero
Retailers are ramping up hiring for the holiday season, but hiring of seasonal employees, who help customers in stores and assemble online orders in warehouses, is expected to decline this year.
E-commerce giant Amazon said Thursday it will hire 250,000 full-time, part-time and seasonal workers for the critical shopping period, capping a series of announcements by the nation’s largest retailers in recent weeks.
Amazon is hiring the same number of workers as last year, as are Bath & Body Works and Target, which hired about 100,000 seasonal workers in September and added more to their current workforce during the holiday season. announced plans to offer overtime options to employees. .
Meanwhile, department store Kohl’s has encouraged employees to apply for jobs but has remained silent about its plans, saying that, like Walmart, it employs store associates year-round and uses its own staff as needed during busy periods. He said he would adopt the.
Some companies have indicated their intention to reduce holiday hiring. Macy’s announced it will add more than 31,500 seasonal jobs at Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s and Bluemercury stores and distribution centers this year. Last year, the company added 38,000 people.
This year’s demand for seasonal workers comes as economists monitor the U.S. job market for signs of slowing. The number of job openings has been steadily decreasing since peaking at 12.2 million in March 2022. As the economy rebounded from the coronavirus lockdown with unexpected strength, companies scrambled to find enough workers to fill customer orders.
The holiday shopping period is the busiest time of the year for online and brick-and-mortar retailers, who are already announcing discount events to attract consumers who plan to shop early for gifts. There are also retailers.
Consulting firm Deloitte expects U.S. retail sales to rise 2.3% to 3.3% from November to January, reaching a total of $1.59 trillion. EY Parthenon, the consulting arm of Ernst & Young, predicts a similar 3% increase in sales for the previous November-December period.
However, EY Parthenon expects inflation-driven price increases to account for most of that growth, with real sales volumes only increasing by 0.5% year-on-year.
Online sales, a growing sector of retail, are expected to increase 8.4% to a record $240.8 billion, according to Adobe, which tracks e-commerce transactions.
“Right now, retailers seem optimistic that the holiday season will be strong, and that means large retailers, warehouse stores, “This is reflected in our recruitment plans.”
Overall, U.S. retail is expected to add 520,000 new jobs in the final quarter of this year, compared to 564,200 in 2023, according to a report released last month by Challenger, Gray & Christmas. There is. The company, which analyzes non-seasonally adjusted data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, said this is more than the 509,300 seasonal jobs retailers added in 2022. However, this represents the second lowest total since 2009.
In general, the labor market has gradually lost momentum since the Federal Reserve raised the benchmark interest rate multiple times in 2022 and 2023 to combat high inflation. Last month, the Federal Reserve lowered its key interest rate for the first time in more than four years. The move reflects a renewed focus on strengthening the job market.
Still, Challenger said the retail industry could face challenges in filling job openings in the coming weeks and months “due to job and salary demands.”
To attract employees, companies like Macy’s and J.C. Penney, as well as sporting goods stores Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s, are recruiting employees through nationwide hiring events. J.C. Penney plans to hire more than 10,000 store employees, about the same number as last year. Macy’s announced it would offer on-the-spot interviews at an initial event held in its stores and warehouses last week. The company plans to hold three more events this year.
“The flow of applications is strong,” Macy’s said, adding that nearly one-third of recent hires are former employees of the company.
With the growth of online shopping, delivery giant UPS announced that it plans to hire 125,000 seasonal workers for the holiday season, up from 100,000 last year.
Radial, an e-commerce company responsible for delivery for brands such as Calvin Klein and Express, said it will reduce its hiring numbers but also plans to expand its workforce based on real-time demand. This approach allows the company to meet customer needs “without being overly committed,” said Billy Peterson, Radial’s senior vice president.
On the buyer side, while consumers are showing resilience in their spending, they are also showing signs of stress, with rising credit card debt and falling savings rates likely to weigh on spending in coming months. There is a certain trend.
Retail sales increased from July to August after posting the strongest growth in 18 months in the previous month. At the same time, consumers have become more cautious about their purchases, resisting high prices by discounting store brands and looking for great deals on products.
But holiday shoppers could face even higher prices for their products if the longshoremen’s strike, which has shut down all major shipyards on the U.S. East Coast and Gulf Coast, continues for more than a month.
First Published: October 3, 2024 10:12am
