Despite increases in holiday hiring numbers so far, experts predict the holidays might not be very merry for students looking for seasonal work.
According to the U.S. Labor Department, retail payrolls across the country gained 150,900 jobs in October. This is the largest October increase since the recession began — job gains in October 2009 and October 2008 were 47,600 and 38,600, respectively.
Though these numbers are signs of growing confidence from retail outlets, it will still not be easy to find a seasonal job, said John Challenger, CEO of Challenger, Gray and Christmas, Inc., a Chicago-based company that provides services to the recently unemployed.
The competition for these positions will be very stiff because many people who lost jobs during the recession are still out of work, Challenger said, and they will be looking to take these jobs as a short-term income stream.
“Long-term unemployment is still very high,” Challenger said. “There’s a lot more people who would like to get these jobs, so the competition will still be stiff.”
Though the numbers are on the rise, Challenger said holiday hiring will not reach the level it was before the recession.
He expects retail companies to add more than 600,000 seasonal workers to their payroll nationally. This will fall short of the 746,800 seasonal jobs in 2006, the last year that October figures were more than 150,000.
Retail job numbers specific to Arizona will be released later this month.
Economics professor Dennis Hoffman said these numbers can be seen as positive signs, but they show that economic improvement is still limited at best.
“This means that opportunities for students will be only modestly better than the past two years,” Hoffman said. “Despite some signs of stability, happy days are not yet here again.”
If students are looking to take a part-time job for the holidays, experts advise them to apply early. Shawn Boyer, CEO of web-based job search company Snagajob.com, said hesitating to apply will be dangerous.
“For jobseekers out there, even with relatively more positions available, you still can expect fierce competition,” Boyer said. “If you have intentions of finding a holiday job, you cannot wait to apply.”
The company, which helps people find hourly jobs, commissioned a study in September that said managers in the retail field will be hiring an average of 3.9 employees. This is an improvement over 3.1 and 3.7 employees in 2009 and 2008, but will fall short of the 5.6 workers they found managers hiring in 2007, the first year they performed the survey.
Challenger said a strong holiday shopping season is vital to seeing numbers continue to improve next year.
“As consumer spending power returns, retail will grow,” Challenger said. “There’s a lot more people on the payrolls with spending power, and that needs to continue for this growth to continue.”
Reach the reporter at michael.reppenhagen@asu.edu
