Employers project decline in hiring for holiday season

As holiday spenders tighten up their gift-giving budgets for the upcoming holidays, members of the retail community are feeling the pinch.

Fifty-eight percent of Indiana shoppers said they plan to spend less than they did last year, according to a retail spending study conducted by Deloitte. Only 3 percent of respondents said they would spend more. Consumers also said they will spend an average of $1,250, a 14 percent decrease from last year’s survey result of $1,456.

Retail sales dropped a total of 2.8 percent from September to October, declining to $363.7 billion, and retail stocks have hit a five-year low, according to reports from the Wall Street Journal and the Manpower Employment Outlook Survey conducted by Manpower Inc.

These numbers have led a number of businesses to cut down on holiday hiring.

“I would expect that hiring in general during the holiday season will not be as strong as it has been in the past,” said Jerry Conover of the Indiana Business Research Center at the Kelley School of Business. “There should be more sales activity at stores in the next month or so, but it’s not going to be as strong as it has been in the past. I won’t expect many ‘help wanted’ signs to be hanging out.”

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a loss of more than 38,000 jobs in the retail market during the month of October.

“Consumers are spending less money in general, trying to save against the uncertainties of the coming months,” Conover said. “As a result, they are doing less discretionary spending. Stores are finding fewer shoppers there, and they’re spending less money when they’re there.”

However, these effects may not be as bad as they seem.

Joe Marcoux, general manager of the local Best Buy, said that his store hired approximately the same number of people for the holiday season as it did last year and that about half of those people were IU students. However, Marcoux said he could not provide an exact figure on how many people were hired.

Target, one of the biggest retailers in the nation, is still hiring for the holidays and predicts that hiring will remain constant this winter. Approximately 100,000 people were hired across the nation by Target last year in its more than 1,600 stores, a spokesman said.

Wal-Mart also hired about 20,000 to 25,000 people from October to November nationally last year and is planning to hire about the same number of people this year.

The job market in Bloomington remains strong for the holidays, Conover said, which gives students opportunities to find jobs and earn much-needed quick cash.

“The Bloomington area is not too bad yet,” Conover said of the unemployment rate, “but it’s higher than it has been.”

However, it is important to recognize the need to get out and search for a job early.
Marcoux said Best Buy has already finished its holiday hiring.

“There are more people available to work now than usual,” Conover said. “As a result, there may be more experienced workers applying to get those same jobs (as students) that do open up.”

While opportunities in retail may be slimmer than in previous years, there are other chances for employment, Conover said. If students are looking for work, he said, on-campus jobs may be a better option.