Orange County Register

Holiday hiring has gotten off to a slow start this year, but improving news out of the retailers suggests they may be ready to bring on more workers, says an employment expert.

John Challenger, chief executive of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, an international outplacement firm, predicted in September that hiring this year would be up from last year's devastating holidays, which were the worst since 1989.

He cited October U.S. employment numbers which showed retailers adding 63,500 workers nationwide, up from 59,100 for the same month last year. (Click on chart to enlarge.)

“There have been some signs that retail is picking up, so we could see a surge in November employment gains,” said Challenger.  "If you are looking for a seasonal job, it would be wise not to give up the search. Retailers are taking a wait-and-see approach and could decide to bring in extra workers at the last minute."

A new report today from MasterCard's monthly SpendingPulse Survey on credit card transactions gave a mixed outlook saying that, at best, spending has stabilized but is not accelerating. MasterCard said October sales were  were unchanged from September and down 1.3% from October 2008.

“October’s growth rate is the best year-over-year showing for retail sales since October of last year," said Kamalesh Rao, director of economic research for MasterCard Advisors. "We’re not yet in positive territory, but the declines are getting smaller.”

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. could be the bellwether.  The retailer today reported a $3.2 billion profit in the quarter ending Oct. 31, but sales at stores open at least a year were down 0.4% and the company predicted they would decline up to 1% in the last three months of the year.

Did you miss these recent stories on jobs and the economy ...

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.