[1/2]An employee looks at a Christmas display at a Walmart store in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., November 23, 2016. REUTERS/Kamil Krzaczynski/File Photo ACQUIRE LICENSE RIGHTS
- Walmart will hire new workers on a case-by-case basis
- Rising labor costs are a factor in dampened retail hiring
- Retail job applications far outnumber open positions
NEW YORK, Oct 16 (Reuters) – Walmart (WMT.N) has signaled it has enough staff for the holidays, another sign that leading U.S. retailers are facing the typical hiring sprees for the holidays amid fears of a seasonal shopping slowdown Hold back peak time.
“We are staffed and ready to serve customers this holiday season,” Maren Dollwet Wagonner, senior vice president of people, said in a LinkedIn post last week. “We have been hiring throughout the year to ensure we are ready to serve our customers the way they want to shop.”
Stores that need additional workers will offer workers additional hours and hire more if needed, a spokesman said Monday.
The holiday shopping season traditionally begins the day after Thanksgiving, which falls on November 23rd this year, and ends on Christmas, but begins earlier each year. This period accounts for more than a third of annual revenue for most U.S. retailers.
Walmart, like other retail chains, was cautious about its outlook for the holiday season, saying customers were stressed by high grocery prices, depleted savings and higher interest rates. This could cause them to hold back on buying high-value holiday items such as electronics, clothing and home goods, the executives said.
Rising labor costs are also a factor.
“Retailers are more aware that they are incurring ever-increasing labor costs that they cannot pass on to consumers who are suffering from rising interest rates,” said Andrew Challenger, senior vice president of Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
Retailers are also asking their employees for more help with staffing this year, said Neil Costa, founder of staffing marketing firm HireClix.
“In the retail market there is more pressure than before for referrals rather than just putting all the money into advertising.”
Seasonal hiring at U.S. retailers is expected to fall to levels last seen in 2008, while holiday sales are expected to grow at their slowest pace in five years, according to a report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
Walmart’s LinkedIn post on hiring was unusual after years of publicly reporting Walmart’s hiring numbers and job openings. The statement from America’s largest private employer, with 1.7 million employees, offered analysts insight into potential holiday shopping outcomes.
Last year, Walmart announced it would hire 40,000 workers. The LinkedIn post did not mention a hiring goal for this year.
With the exception of Amazon, which plans to hire 250,000 workers for the holiday season, several other U.S. chains, including Macy’s, have issued muted hiring plans for the period.
According to talent acquisition firm iCIMS, U.S. retail job applications rose 46%, job openings fell 25% and actual retail hiring fell 12% in the year ended September.
In Britain, retailers such as Sainsbury’s (SBRY.L) and Marks & Spencer (MKS.L) expect to hire more temporary workers than last year, even though one in three Brits plan to cut their Christmas spending.
Reporting by Siddharth Cavale in New York; Edited by Mark Porter and Richard Chang
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