Seasonal holiday jobs harder to come by this year

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Story Published: Dec 3, 2009 at 6:25 PM MST

Story Updated: Dec 3, 2009 at 6:25 PM MST

By Anthony Congi

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IDAHO FALLS - From November until the new year, local retail stores have a lot of new faces in their store. Stores like Target hire seasonal workers to stock shelves, work the floors and as cashiers.

With a local unemployment rate of more than 6 percent, holiday retail work is crucial for people trying to get by.

"Any jobs at all are a help. And if nothing else, then that person who's working, even if its maybe 15-20 hours a week, hopefully it's more than that, that gives them a lot more self confidence and independence in a way," explains Regional Economist Tanya Alban with the Idaho Department of Labor.

On average, local retail stores hire between 20 and 50 people a year for seasonal holiday employment. But on a nationwide average, "Toys R Us" leads the way hiring 35-thousand people for the holidays.

Holiday employment is the second-biggest seasonal economic boost for our area. Trumped only by the fall harvest.

But even the retail giants had to cut back on their hires this year.

"This year was a little less. We hired about 25 seasonal employees. And that was simply because we had hours we gave to our regular team members first and we need a few less than we did in past years," says Target Senior Team Leader Holly Shanklin.

Target has hired anywhere from 35 to 50 seasonal workers in previous years.

"We try to hire as many as we can and give them hours. And we try to keep employees after the seasonal, so as many people as we can provide a job for, we will do that," says Shanklin.

In our metropolitan statistical area, we're down nearly 3,000 jobs from this time a year ago. So any job, even part time, could really help.

"Even seasonal things are good. They're always good for the economy. But in a time of a recession, anything, everything is good," says Alban.

On a positive note for some of you seasonal workers, a career builder survey shows 1 out of 3 companies are likely to keep a seasonal worker and hire them full-time.

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