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November 14, 2009
Lafayette residents looking for a job this holiday season might just get their wish, as local retailers are ramping up hiring ahead of the annual shopping rush.
This year's seasonal employment outlook is similar to last year's, with about 18 percent of employers looking to hire workers to meet their holiday needs, according to a survey by CareerBuilder.com.
Competition for jobs is expected to be fierce, with unemployment at a 26-year high and many employed workers looking to take on a seasonal job to make ends meet.
In Lafayette, the unemployment rate stood at 6.2 percent in September, well below the national average of 10.2 percent.
Many retailers are not expecting a significant downturn in holiday spending, at least locally.
"I think there is an expectation that this year could actually be better than last year's holiday," said Dawn Johnson, executive director of the Louisiana Retailers Association. "I think (businesses) will hire a few more people to make sure the rush will be covered."
J.C. Penney expects to hire about 40 extra workers to take care of holiday customers and merchandise at its Louisiana Avenue location. The store hired about 50 workers this time last year.
In its latest earnings statement, J.C. Penney forecast fourth-quarter sales to drop between 3 percent and 5 percent from last year.
Still, the Lafayette store is already gearing up for a busy holiday season, hiring about 20 temporary workers so far.
"There's always extra traffic from Nov. 1 until Dec. 31," store manager Curtis Perry said, "so it takes a little more staff to keep standards up."
Abercrombie & Fitch is looking to hire about a dozen extra workers to staff its Kids store on Johnston Street, which usually employs about 30 people.
Assistant manager Malika Oubre said business started to pick up this week, and she expects a strong holiday season — despite retail sales being down about 9 percent in Lafayette so far this year.
"I think most people are waiting for the holidays to spend their money, so I think it's going to be about the same," she said.
Capitol Cyclery at Cullen's Playland isn't hiring seasonal workers but does plan to give it's current staff more hours and bonus pay to deal with the annual holiday demand for bicycles.
Owner Lisa Menard said it's not practical to hire seasonal workers because of the training the job requires. "It's hard to just bring somebody in that can build a $500-600 bicycle," she said. "So we give incentives to try to shake them up."
Lowe's on Ambassador Caffery Parkway expects to hire "a few more" workers this time of year, and most will stay on after the holidays.
Christmas tree sales keep the store busy during the holidays, and there appears to be a good pool of applicants looking for work, said store manager Hawke Lott.
"We always have a constant flow of applications," Lott said. "With more people that need work, we probably have more coming through than normal."
According to the CareerBuilder survey, customer service, retail sales, administrative and hospitality are the most common seasonal jobs available.
A seasonal position may be just the break jobseekers are looking for: 31 percent of hiring managers indicate they are likely to retain a seasonal worker for a full-time position.
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