Oct 26, 2009

Gloom for holiday hiresBy Amy LaValleyPost-Trib.com

Kari Bunde, owner of the Copper Butterfly gift shop in downtown Crown Point, said she’s had a lot of people stop by to see if she’s hiring extra help for the holidays.

“I just have myself, and the only other people I’ll be hiring are my daughters,” one in high school, and another who will be home from college.

Bunde would love to be able to hire someone else but doesn’t see that happening.

“Business has picked up a bit but it’s not what it should be for this time of year,” she said.

As the holiday season looms ever closer and Christmas trees outshine Halloween costumes in the stores, retailers big and small are weighing hiring carefully, trying to project how sales will go in a still-tight economy.

Outplacement company Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc., released a report in mid-September that predicted a slight improvement in holiday hiring over last year, but only because 2008 saw the lowest seasonal employment growth in nearly 20 years.

The report noted that, “retail employment grew by just 384,300 from October through December, according to non-seasonally adjusted data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That was nearly 50 percent fewer than in 2007, when retailers added 720,800 workers during the holiday months.

“The 384,300 seasonal workers hired in 2008 represent the lowest holiday hiring figure since 1989, when retailers added just 380,500 workers.”

On the upside, the report states that retail sales have edged up slightly for apparel, sporting goods, and general merchandise.

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