3 On Your Side: Holiday Hiring
By Jim Donovan
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Before you know it the holidays will be upon us. And that means spending, spending and more spending. But it also means jobs, jobs, jobs. 3 On Your Side consumer reporter Jim Donovan takes a look at some of the companies that are boosting holiday payrolls.
Stores are decorating earlier and earlier and even though the holidays are weeks away.
Walmart is gearing up!
"We have already started the hiring process in the store," said Bubba Bohra with Walmart.
Bringing on thousands of new employees coast to coast.
"To kick off the season we are hiring 55,000 associates for seasonal help this year. All of Philadelphia, South Jersey, Delaware Valley, we're looking across the board," said Bohra.
"A lot of retail sales are very heavily dependent upon finding the staff to generate sales and serve customers as they come in. So a disproportionate share of all their employment over the course of the year is going to be concentrated between now and Christmas," said Paul Harrington, Director of Drexel University's Center for Labor Market and Policy.
Harrington says this year retailers are showing more restraint.
"While employment certainly is going to rise with the seasonal hire up for Christmas, it's probably not going to be as big as a rise as we'd hope given the poor overall economic environment in the country and the sluggish pace of job growth in the region," said Harrington.
JC Penney is bringing on 35,000 temporary holiday workers.
Toys R Us is employing 45,000.
Kohl's is hiring 53,000 seasonal employees nationwide, including on average 40 extra employees per store.
While Target is hiring 70,000 and offering five to ten percent more hours for year round employees.
Macy's is going all out too.
"We at Macy's have over 83,000 employees that we will be hiring temporarily for the holiday season. In the greater Philadelphia area we'll have well over 2,000 employees that we'll be hiring to help us through the great season," said Melissa Ludwig with Macy's.
And you never know when there may be opportunity beyond that.
"We really find some great talent out there that we bring on board. We do have great deal of folks that continue their employment with us right after the holiday season to see a career at Macy's which is a lot of fun for all of us," said Ludwig.
In addition to making money, many seasonal holiday workers are lured in by generous employee discounts.
It's a win-win for retailers. They get the holiday sales help they need and hope those employees will spend their paycheck in-house.
