Holiday sales positions see shift
Employees find that jobs are more likely in warehouses or out making deliveries
While Black Friday holiday sales are already underway, retailers are engaging in another annual ritual: Hiring people for the busy shopping season.
But like Black Friday, this year’s hiring is a bit different, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Retail workers may be as likely to work in a warehouse or behind the wheel of a delivery van as they are to work at a cash register.
Employers who work to staff up for the season also face challenges from New York’s complicated unemployment compensation laws that can penalize people who work just a few hours per week.
While that’s a perennial issue, local employers say they are so far getting the workers they need to meet the holiday shopping demand, both in person and online.
“A lot of our tenants have transitioned to Zoom and overthe-phone interviews” for holiday jobs, said Crossgates Mall marketing director Jennifer Smith.
She said seasonal hiring so far has tracked that of years past.
Additionally, those who make deliveries for online sales are looking for workers in warehouses, be they the U.S. Postal Service, Amazon or other facilities.
“Historically, a majority of seasonal workers would be on the sales floor, but 2020 has forced everyone — including
stores — to think creatively,” said Melissa O’connor, president and CEO of the Retail Council of New York State.
“Today, retailers are also hiring employees to help operate curbside pickup, distribution and fulfillment services,” she said.
Amazon’s fulfillment center in Schodack has hired 800 people so far for their permanent operation and they are looking for more, said spokeswoman Jenna Hilzenrath.
They start at $15.20 per hour with a $500 sign-on bonus. And the U.S. Postal Service has been hiring extra holidayseason sorters and mail handlers who can earn $16.55 to $18.49 per hour.
These jobs are available as record numbers of New Yorkers have collected unemployment insurance thanks to business closures from the COIVD-19 pandemic.
While there’s been a recent dip in new claims, more people are also seeking extended benefits beyond the usual 26week period, due to the pandemic.
As of Nov. 7, there were 43,876 initial claims in New York state during that week compared to 45,716 the week before, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.
But claims for Emergency Benefits, which extends payments after the standard 26-week period, rose from 644,750 to 662,761. That means there are still many people who are still without a job due to the pandemic.
But retailers and warehouses are at least looking for people to work during the shopping season. That’s in contrast with the spring when the pandemic first erupted.
Because of COVID-19, “in the beginning of this crisis we didn’t want people to look for work,” said Erica Groshen, a senior labor economist at Cornell University and former federal commissioner of labor statistics.
Barriers to work still exist.
Certainly people may hesitate to leave home and potentially risk exposure to COVID-19, despite the extensive precautions employers are taking.
The pandemic may have sped the rate of retirements among people who were close to retirement age, Groshen said. The workforce of people older than 60 has also grown over the years, thanks to health care improvements, the cost of retirement and the growing prevalence of non-physical desk jobs.
And some quirks in state unemployment compensation law could deter some people from working just a few hours a week, even during the holiday season.
Under state law, a person who is getting unemployment insurance and works a half day for one day a week would lose that day’s worth of unemployment insurance pay. So if someone was collecting $126 per day in UI, but worked just two hours earning $40, they would lose $86.
“I get a lot of calls about this but I have to tell them that’s the law,” said Jacob Korder, of Korder Law, a New York City firm that focuses on employment issues.
Working a holiday job doesn’t mean the end of unemployment benefits though. For those who are looking for a temporary job, however, their benefits would continue as before, once that holiday job ended, according to the state Labor Department.