Retailers may hire fewer employees this holiday season as forecasted sales are lower than previous years.
“Retailers are very cautious about…consumer confidence and purchasing power” in light of high gas prices and mortgage troubles, said John Challenger, chief executive officer of outplacement consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. That caution spills over into hiring decisions.
In October, retail stores only added about half the number of jobs as usual, just 71,700 compared with a ten-year average of about 142,500, according to Challenger. It’s still difficult to predict what November and December will bring, said Barry Lawrence, career expert at job-matching site Jobfox.com. “I’d be shocked if they [retailers] cut staff,” he said, but “it’s a possibility to add less than last year.”
“November is the big month that really tells the story,” said Challenger. About 418,200 retail jobs were created in November 2006, and in the past ten years, an average 336,000 jobs were added.
It’s always possible for stores to “ratchet the [sales] force up or down,” and with a relatively early Thanksgiving this year, stores can “get a flavor for how things are going,” said Lawrence.
Retailers are “putting people on the bench” and setting up waiting lists for prospective hires, said Challenger.
On top of the dim sales forecast, there is a general trend towards less hiring, partly coming from discounters such as Wal-Mart that are trying to become “more efficient,” said Michael Niemira, chief economist for the International Council of Shopping Centers.
Some retail chains are asking their current employees how many extra hours they would like to work. Best Buy will hire fewer temporary workers in the end, according to spokesman Brian Lucas. This is a fundamental shift, designed to increase experienced staff on the sales floor.
Smaller stores aren’t switching gears. Children’s store Doodlehopper 4 Kids in Springfield still plans, like last year, to add one more employee, perhaps two on the weekends, to the usual two, said manager Gwen Bowden. Bowden said she has a “positive outlook” for the holiday season, with sales better than last year so far.
