This Holiday Season Will Put the Ho-Ho-Ho-in Seasonal Hiring
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. CREDIT: Seasonal workers image via Shutterstock |
Kris Kringle will be hauling a special surprise for seekers of temporary jobs this Christmas. More seasonal jobs will be available this year than in any season in the past five years, marking a return to pre-recessionary hiring levels, a new survey shows.
More hiring managers will be hiring this holiday season, according to the survey of more than 1,000 hourly managers with responsibility for hiring year-end seasonal workers. In the survey, which was sponsored by Snagajob, an hourly employment network, 63 percent of these managers said they will make hires this year, the largest portion in five years and up 12 percentage points from last year.
Based on survey responses, hiring managers expect to bring in an average of 6.1 seasonal workers. Comparing similar data from previous years, this is two more hires than last year and an almost 100 percent improvement from a low point in 2009 (3.1 seasonal workers).
But prospective applicants will want to begin their job hunt sooner rather than later, because holiday hiring is expected to be completed earlier this year. Among those who will be adding seasonal workers, 57 percent expect to complete their hiring by the end of October if not sooner, compared with 46 percent last year.
Many of these seasonal jobs will turn into full-time work, the survey found. Nearly half of seasonal workers (49 percent) are expected to be full-time hires, the highest level recorded in five years.
"For the past few seasons, we’ve had to talk about 'incremental improvements' being expected in holiday hiring," said Jason Hamilton, vice president of marketing for Snagajob. "But this year there are strong indications that there should be substantial movement in getting us back to the kinds of holiday hiring levels we were accustomed to prior to the recession.
"Doing the math, our survey shows that 24 percent more hiring managers are hiring this season, and hiring managers, on average, are planning to hire about 50 percent more people. Those indicators, taken together, point to a vastly improved seasonal job market. "
Reach BusinessNewsDaily senior writer Ned Smith at nsmith@techmedianetwork.com. Follow him on Twitter @nedbsmith.We're also on Facebook & Google+.