Online sales drive retailers’ need for seasonal help

Despite department store woes, national retailers have started to seek seasonal help — and at levels close to those seen last year, according to some estimates.

Many of the seasonal jobs are focused on stocking additional inventory, customer service and helping in shipping and distribution centers, an area that is growing as online holiday sales increase.

The jobs are temporary, and many are part time.

“The competition among major big-box retailers will incentivize consumers to spend more this holiday season,” said John Challenger, CEO of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a Chicago-based outplacement firm. “These stores will need to add staff in order to meet demand.”

The firm said that last year’s seasonal employment was about 641,000 — the lowest since 2008, when 324,900 retail workers were hired. The number of hires in 2016 was nearly 10 percent lower than the year before, when retailers added 708,800 jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

According to the firm, retailers have announced more than 6,000 store closures and 67,000 job cuts in the first eight months of the year. Despite these num- bers, the firm said retailers still projected the highest number of hiring announcements for any industry, with more than 248,000.

Since 2012, holiday hiring announcements have averaged 604,000 per year, according to Challenger.

Part of what is driving the hires, the firm said, is a need for more customer service, warehouse and logistics jobs as retailers shift their business models to more online sales.