The holiday shopping season is approaching quickly as shoppers will soon begin flocking to department stores and small businesses in the coming months. A busy shopping season calls for more retail hiring; however, CNBC reports not all retailers will successfully fill their vacant positions. Demands for higher wages lure some employees away from low-paying jobs, while those who remain are left to pick up the slack.
On Oct. 1, the news outlet shared findings from global consulting group Korn Ferry that first looked back to the 2017 holiday season when 23% of retailers were unable to reach their desired number of temporary hires—expectations that will likely worsen this year. While nearly 70% of the participating 20 major U.S. retailers want to hire similar employee numbers, CNBC states, just over 60% are instead giving permanent employees more hours to close the gap"There are more jobs out there than there are people looking for them. ... It's a hustle to find the talent," Korn Ferry Senior Partner Craig Rowley said in the article. "Retailers are asking their existing employees if they can work more because they're already trained. This year more than ever we're seeing employers getting workers to work more hours."
Rowley also told CNBC that hiring is the main speed bump for the 2018 shopping season, sales being troubling last year.
—Andrew Michaels, editorial associate