AGAWAM Kate Gourde, owner of Coopers Gifts in Agawam, feels the busy energy of the holiday shopping season building especially now that a cold snap has folks thinking of Christmas.
Its the season of hope, and we all want to enjoy it. We are keeping our shelves stocked with plenty of affordable gift ideas, she said. Im an optimist.
So shes facing a quandary.
I dont usually hire this late in the season, but I might need one other person, she said. Im just nervous that I might not have enough.
No business can carry employees it doesnt need. At the same time, Goude, 49, knows her second-generation family business is built on a reputation for service. And her eight current employees face pressure, including kids at home sick, and arent as available as they once were.
Kate Gourde inside her store, Cooper's Gifts, in Agawam. (Don Treeger / The Republican) 11/17/2022
I feel like Ive got barely enough people to get through, she said.
At Holyoke Mall, the J.C. Penney store offered $3 extra an hour for those willing to work Saturdays, Sundays, Black Friday and Christmas Eve, said Ruth-Ann Hastings, mall marketing director.
Local J.C. Penney management didnt return calls for comment. But nationally, the old-school department store chain said it hoped to hire 22,000 seasonal workers.
The National Retail Federation said it expects retailers to hire between 450,000 and 600,000 seasonal workers this year. That compares with 669,800 seasonal hires in 2021, the trade group said. Some of them hired in October as many retailers were eager to supplement their workforces to meet increased consumer demand.
Business consultants Challenger, Gray & Christmas tracked corporate hiring announcements and found that by Nov. 16, 2021, companies had announced plans to hire 940,300 worker for seasonal help. So far this year, companies have announced plans for just 592,400 hires for the holiday season, a 37% decrease, according to a Challenger, Gray & Christmas study.
Companies may be reluctant to announce their seasonal hiring plans, even if they do intend to hire, due to economic uncertainty. Some may not want or need to make a hiring push right now, said Andrew Challenger, senior vice president of Challenger, Gray & Christmas in a written statement.
Locally, all this is playing out in a still-tight labor market. As of September, the most recent month available, Greater Springfield had an unemployment rate of just 3.7%. Thats more than two percentage points lower than it was in September 2021. The local economy has grown by more than 4,000 jobs in the last year while the labor force has shrunk.
Statewide, the October total unemployment rate was 3.5%, up one-tenth of a percentage point compared to last month, the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development announced Friday.
The National Retail Federation also estimates that 166.3 million people are planning to shop from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday this year,
Amy Wilson Cahillane, executive director of the Downtown Northampton Association, said she no longer sees help wanted signs in every Northampton shop or restaurant window.
It feels like it has settled down a little bit from where it was six or eight months ago, she said. Not as frenetic. It might be easier to find people. It feels to me that people are in a pretty good place staff wise.
And she, like Gourde, anticipates a busy shopping season based on big turnouts for Northamptons fall events. Septembers Taste of Northampton drew 10,000 after a slow start.
I was concerned that I was going to be alone on Main Street, she said. Speaking last week, she expected a busy Bag Day promotion downtown on Nov. 19.
JoAnn J. Miller, director of business services at the MassHire Springfield job center, said normally, retailers are prominent in the job postings the center gets each fall.
But that actually has not been the case this year, she said.
Instead, Miller has seen hiring from delivery services like UPS, which announced in September it would hire more than 100,000 holiday workers in 2022, and Amazon, which has posted job openings for its delivery despite corporate layoffs that made news last week.
U.S. Postal Service Letter Carrier Jerry Forcier delivers mail along his Springfield route. (Don Treeger / The Republican) 11/17/2022
The U.S. Postal Service has more than 100 positions posted statewide, said spokesman Steve Doherty. Thats including mail handler and maintenance mechanic jobs in Springfield and carrier positions in Athol, Great Barrington, Bernardston, Hinsdale, Belchertown, Northampton, Cheshire, Northfield, North Adams, Williamstown, Wilbraham and Sheffield.
Nationally, the Post Office hopes to hire 28,000 seasonal employees.
In retail, Raymond Vigneault, an owner of PLAYNOW! Toy Stores, said able to handle increased Christmas business at his two existing stores by increasing the hours of current employees. But hes had trouble staffing up his newest store in Westboro.
We are not getting as many bites on applications, he said You would think people would be looking for more money for the holiday season.
Peter Rosskothen, owner of The Log Cabin, Delaney House, D. Hotel Suites & Spa and Delaneys Markets, said he had already staffed up for a busy September and October wedding season and he plans to keep most of them on.
Its getting better (finding people), he said. Our area is a really good base for us. Holyoke and Easthampton have been very, very good to us in getting us employees.
He said its a busy holiday season, though. Corporations are back to hosting Christmas parties.