The hiring pace for this years holiday season is trending to break the record set 12 years ago in 2000. So far in October and November of this year, retailers added 619,700 seasonal workers to their payrolls, which is a 19% increase compared to last year, according to consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas. If businesses hire 140,300 more employees in December, they will match the number of seasonal workers during the 2000 holiday hiring season. Last year retailers hired 147,600 employees in December, so there is a very good chance the record will be ch
allenged.
“Despite all of the uncertainty, all the talk of fiscal cliffs, the widespread damage to retail epicenters on the east coast by Hurricane Sandy, and the continued growth of e-commerce, retailers are hiring holiday workers in record numbers,” said Chief Executive John A. Challenger in a statement.
It was projected that holiday sales would increase this year and even though Black Friday sales were decent, overall retail sales were only up 1.6% in November compared to last year.
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