With the holiday season quickly approaching, retail stores across Kane County have been getting stockpiles of gift items, and as usual, applications for seasonal work.
What is unusual is the amount of job applications they have been receiving. Bob Untiedt, owner of Geneva’s Graham’s Fine Chocolate and Ice Cream, 302 S. Third St., said his store is receiving about two to three times as many applications as last year.
“It’s a huge difference,” Untiedt said. “I think that ... some of the family dynamics have changed. Maybe dads have had to cut back as the bread winners. Mom or dad have had to cut back (because of reduced hours at work), so they’re trying to pick up the slack on part-time jobs. I think that’s got to be it, because we’ve had such a huge change this year.”
Nationally, this year’s seasonal hiring is expected to be an improvement as compared to 2008. It could hardly be worse — 2008 saw the lowest seasonal employment growth in nearly 20 years. Some stores already have started hiring staff with an eye toward the holiday shopping season, while others are preparing for a flood of applications.
Untiedt said most of his seasonal retail positions already have been filled by the four or five new employees he brought on in August.
“Our sales have been up, but it hasn’t been in such a dramatic way (where) we’re able to hire more people,” Untiedt said. “I wish that would be the case, but it hasn’t.”
In 2008, 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 less growth than in 2007, when retailers added 720,800 workers during the holiday months.
The number of seasonal workers hired in 2008 represent the lowest holiday hiring figure since 1989, when retailers added just 380,500 workers.
In St. Charles, Robbins Flowers owner Don Robbins said while every year is different in terms of seasonal hiring, this year they will not be hiring at all.
“It’s an economy thing, definitely,” Robbins said. “... (Hiring) last year was down. This year I don’t expect to be up either.”
In better times, the store has brought on seasonal hires for Christmas and Valentine’s Day.
Though his store doesn’t plan to hire, Robbins said he has seen a large jump this year in applications, whether it be people sending in an application or walking in an inquiring about a job.
Anne Shaw, manager of Geneva’s Viking Office Supply, said her store has received three times as many applications as normal this year.
“You have a lot of choices to chose from,” Shaw said. “We usually hire a high school kid to work after school, but we had a lot of adults that applied for it. (Parents) say their kids are having a really hard time finding a job because of older adults who are more qualified. Having somebody who is older compared to a high school kid ... I’ll take someone who has more responsibility.”
Untiedt said his store may do 30 percent of its entire year of sales during the Christmas holiday, which helps during what he calls the “leaner months” at the beginning of the year.
“(Seasonal workers) are very important,” Untiedt said. “Every year, it’s the same people that come back. It’s wonderful. ... Not breaking in somebody new and (just having them) remember things from year to year is very helpful.”
GateHouse News Reporter Sean F. Driscoll contributed to this story.
