This year’s holiday season should be the best job market for seasonal workers in five years, according to an annual study commissioned by Snagajob, the Richmond-based hourly employment network. The survey, conducted by IPSOS Public Affairs, found that 63 percent of hiring managers will make seasons hires this year, compared to 51 percent last year. In addition, hiring managers plan to add an average of 6.1 workers during the holidays, compared with 4.1 workers last year.
These hiring managers are also predicting more robust spending. “For the past few seasons, we’ve had to talk about ‘incremental improvements’ being expected in holiday hiring,” Jason Hamilton, vice president of marketing for Snagajob, said in a statement. “But this year, there are strong indications that there should be substantial movement in getting us back to the kinds of holiday hiring levels we were accustomed to prior to the recession. Doing the math, our survey shows that 24 percent more hiring managers are hiring this season, and hiring managers, on average, are planning to hire about 50 percent more people. Those indicators taken together point to a vastly improved seasonal job market. ”
The survey, which included 1,000 hiring managers, said that 57 percent of hiring managers expected to complete their holiday hires by the end of October.
