The annual mercantile boost in hiring to cover the holidays shows the way shopping is shifting. The online giants are already beefing up employee numbers while traditional in-store shopping outlets are lagging, pre-holiday surveys show.
Amazon, which stands near the top of the heap in on-line retailers, expects to have up to 100,000 holiday employees, while WalMart says it will add some 60,000 temporary employees, Target some 70,000 and Macy’s 85,000, according to the National Retail Federation.
Amazon, which is headquartered in Seattle, Wash., reported recently that it will be hiring across the country to fill an estimated 25,000 jobs as it begins looking toward the holiday demands. The early hires are being placed in fulfillment and sorting facilities. More workers will be added as the demand kicks up. Last year, the company hired some 80,000 workers for the high-demand season, according to a report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
Smaller retailers show lower numbers, with Kohl’s looking to add about 2,000 workers, a 2 percent increase overall. Some retailers, including J.C. Penney and Toys R Us, reported they will hire fewer workers during the season.
These predictions show a turn away from traditional sales floor and cash register jobs that bloomed for the big-spending season. As more people opt to shop online, the shift will continue.
The upcoming holiday frenzy is being born at a time when the national economy is not particularly thriving, the Labor Department suggests. A September slow down in hiring in the retail sector shows things are a little dicey. Average hourly wages are down one cent. A lukewarm average hourly increase of 2.2 percent over the year is not a great harbinger either, department figures show. The net effect may be a dampening of holiday spending overall.
The National Retail Federation, nevertheless, has predicted a 3.7 percent increase in spending for the last quarter of the year, with a total of $630.5 billion poured into retailers’ coffers. That is down from last year, which posted a 4.1 percent increase in spending over the holiday season.
The online segment of the retail industry will post the largest gains, according to the prognosticators, with increases of 6 to 8 percent. Last year, the increase for online merchants was 5.8 percent.
