2017 Holiday Hiring Projections
Here is the concrete data we have so far for 2017 winter seasonal jobs projections from some of the biggest brick and mortar retailers in the US:
- Most notably, Target plans to hire 100,000 employees for winter holiday seasonal jobs this year throughout their 1,816 stores across America. That is a 30,000 increase from the 70,000 employees they hired in 2016 for seasonal employment opportunities. And that number doesn’t even include the additional 4,500 team members they are looking to hire for their warehouse and distribution facilities. And according to Good Housekeeping, these holiday seasonal jobs come with some attractive perks: “Along with some extra income, the job comes with some pretty sweet benefits. Team members will receive two discounts: a 10% merchandise discount at Target and on Target.com and an additional 20% wellness discount on fruits and veggies, Simply Balanced brand foods and C9 athletic gear.”
- While Amazon has yet to officially announce the number of employees they plan to hire for winter seasonal jobs, in 2016 they added over 100,000 new employees, and that doesn’t even include the 120,00 they hired for seasonal employment opportunities in 2016. So, intuition says it wouldn’t be a bad idea to put in an application at Amazon this year for a winter seasonal job. One thing we do know so far is that they have plenty of openings for remote customer support jobs during the holiday season if you live in one of the following states: Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Virginia.
- Macy’s has announced they will hire a total of 80,000 workers for holiday seasonal jobs this year. While that number is a 3,000-employee decrease from their 2016 holiday season hiring total for seasonal employment opportunities, they are seeing a 20% increase this holiday season of seasonal workers hired in their distribution centers and warehouses. This is of course thanks to the continuing surge in online shopping during the holiday season.
What Holiday Hiring Trends are On the Rise in 2017?
Let’s see what trends this data shows regarding how people shop during the holiday season. We all know that Amazon is the online retail giant, so no one is ever surprised by their surge in demand to support holiday retail sales. But take a look at two of the brick and mortar retail giant’s seasonal hiring plans. Target’s projections this year seem to show they have a significant need to fill more in-store/customer-facing holiday seasonal jobs this year than last holiday season. While Macy’s projections seem to show the complete opposite: a higher demand for seasonal warehouse workers to support their online sales.
What’s the explanation? Well we have already discussed the shift opposite shift in e-commerce vs brick and mortar. While there are still plenty of brick and mortar retail stores going online, there are now some online retail stores that are beginning to open brick and mortar locations, such as Amazon’s opening of a bookstore in Seattle’s University Village in November 2016. The competition for online traffic and ad space is beginning to push some retailers back onto the traditional sales floor.
For further explanation, we turn to retail seasonal hiring experts, outplacement firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas:
“As holiday shopping habits turn virtual, retailers are responding by hiring more warehouse and transport workers. While retail hiring has fallen over the last couple years, major announcements indicate workers will still be needed for customer-facing positions, as retailers attempt to give consumers an experience they cannot receive online,” said John Challenger, Chief Executive Officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc, in the firm’s 2017 Holiday Hiring Outlook.
So, depending on the specific retailer’s market, their seasonal hiring will have to cover both online competition as well as create a quality in-store experience.
The great news for those in the market for winter holiday seasonal jobs: You’ve got not only a large number of job opportunities, but also an excellent variety to choose from. Don’t like people? Pursue seasonal employment opportunities in a warehouse or distribution center to help support the high demand of online shopping orders. Good with the sales floor? Retailers need your help more than ever.