Holiday hiring is starting to take place and Macy’s Inc (NYSE:M) has revealed its plans for 2017.
Macy’s holiday hiring for 2017 will have it adding an additional 80,000 seasonal workers to help deal with the shopping season. This is down from last year, when the retailer hired 83,000 employees to help with the holidays.
The decline in holiday hiring at Macy’s means that it is adding less employees that will work in its stores. This is likely due to it having 70 less locations than last year. It could also be that the company isn’t expecting as strong of in-store sales this shopping season compared to last year.
While Macy’s is hiring less in-store seasonal employees, it is actually increasing temporary workers at its warehouses. It plans to add an additional 18,000 warehouse workers for the holidays. This is an increase over its warehouse holiday hiring in 2016, which saw it bring in 15,000 workers, reports Reuters.
Macy’s decision to increase holiday hiring at warehouses, but decrease hiring for stores, is a sign of the times. More retailers have been struggling with lower foot traffic lately and have been turning to online sales to help make up the loss.
While Macy’s holiday hiring is lower in 2017, Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) is adding more jobs. The retailer is planning to bring in an additional 100,000 seasonal workers in 2017. The company’s seasonal hiring for 2016 had it bringing in an additional 70,000 employees to help with the holidays.
M stock was up 2% as of noon Friday, but is down 33% year-to-date.
As of this writing, William White did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
