Seasonal job availability hurt by though economy
Parisa Amini
Parisa Amini
Mesa LegendAccording to a recent survey from CareerBuilder.com, seasonal hiring looked bleak this year with just 18 percent of hiring managers planning to employ seasonal workers in order to meet end of the-year needs.
Seasonal hiring is expected to coincide with the statistics from 2008, which saw a 17 percent hiring rate.
Last year saw the lowest increase in retail employment within the last 20 years with just 384,300 workers from October through December.
In 2007, the numbers were nearly 50 percent higher with 720,800 workers hired during the holiday months.
The economy has created a downsizing in jobs, but companies such as Target, Macy’s, and UPS are hiring seasonal workers.
Heather Christensen is a spokeswoman for Target and said the company is expecting to hire less people for seasonal positions.
“We are anticipating a reduction in the need for seasonal hiring this year,” Christensen said.
In 2008, Target hired around 62,000 people to work during the holidays in stores across the country. Currently, there is no data for the number of hires for the 2009 season.
Targets across Arizona have begun to hire their seasonal employees including the Target located at Warner and Val Vista, in Mesa.
They have hired a handful of employees with a possibility of more.
Target employee, Emily Murray, 20, currently works for the Mesa Target.
In Oct. 2005, Murray was hired on as a seasonal worker along with many others.
As a seasonal employee, she worked on the sales floor where she assisted customers and helped in keeping the store organized and stocked.
When Murray was employed, she was expecting to work until mid-January.
“When February came around, I was wondering when they were going to let me go,” Murray said.
That was when she found out that she was going to be kept on as a regular store employee. She has worked with Target since then and has been there for four years.
“I was happy that I got to keep the job,” Murray said.
Along with Murray, some other seasonal workers were able to stay on. In the past four years, she noticed a diminishing number of workers being asked to continue their work.
“They’ve definitely hired less people as permanent employees since I’ve worked here,” Murray said.
Christensen said the company is offering current employees the choice of taking additional hours.
This option is reducing the need for temporary holiday workers.
Despite the economy, companies are still hiring seasonal employees and are encouraging people to apply for the temp positions.
Toys R Us revealed in September that they intend to hire 35,000 seasonal employees during the busiest season.
Toys are the largest expenditure on kids who are younger than 14, during the five weeks leading up to Christmas.
The competition for openings will remain high but only with more workers competing for fewer jobs.
