No help for holiday hires

By Andrew Gomes
Advertiser Staff Writer

Despite projections of a roughly 4 percent increase in nationwide holiday retail spending this year, most island merchants are not expected to hire more seasonal employees than they did last year.

From left, Trisha Williams and Catherine Bowery are holiday-season hires at the Compleat Kitchen, Ala Moana Center. Experts say finding temporary work is likely to be harder this year as retailers remain unusually cautious. Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser

The gloomy hiring outlook is also a reminder that the state's retail sector will take longer than many expected to recover from staffing levels that remain depressed since the 9/11 attacks.

Some retailers and job consultants did say they expect to make more seasonal hires this year, but most remained cautious, citing efforts to keep costs down, potential war with Iraq, continuing shipping delays and questionable consumer confidence.

"We keep looking for that silver lining, that little ray of sunshine for the economy and tourism, but we keep seeing that dark cloud," said Frank Nishimura, senior vice president of Mark's Hallmark Shop.

Nationally, a hiring survey by Manpower Inc. showed a 26 percent gain in planned seasonal retail hiring during the fourth quarter, as 34 percent of merchants plan to hire more holiday workers than last year.

The local office of Manpower said local retail hiring survey data was not ready yet, but area manager Doris Hannaford said responses indicated merchants planned only "slight" increases, compared with the more typical "moderate" hiring projections of recent years.

Since 1990, from 3,000 to 6,000 people typically were hired statewide for mostly temporary retail positions for the holidays. Last year was the only exception, as retailers added only 1,550 workers from October to December.

This year through September, retailers employed roughly 112,000 people — about 4,000 fewer compared with the same period last year, according to state employment figures.

That suggests competition for temporary seasonal jobs will be higher than normal, experts said.

Sears at Ala Moana Center is making the hiring process easier by letting job applicants apply online or by using these computer terminals next to the human resources office on the bottom floor. Sears expects to fill another 50 or 60 positions for the Christmas season. Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

Still, the number of seasonal hires at Mark's Hallmark in Hawai'i will be about the same as last year, and last year's seasonal hiring was down slightly from 2000.

Nishimura added that permanent employment also has been held at slightly lower post-9/11 levels this year, with hope that increases in sales and staffing will improve next year.

"We hope (sales) won't be worse than last year," he said. "Last year was pretty doggone bad."

For job seekers, one bright spot is that department-store chain J. C. Penney Co. will not begin laying off workers at three of its four Hawai'i stores until Dec. 27 in preparation for closing the stores Jan. 10.

Penney spokesman Tim Lyons said holiday staffing numbers were not available for Hawai'i, but stores typically increase staffing by 10 to 15 percent, and more shoppers are expected this year as merchandise goes on sale in preparation for the closings.

Another exiting retailer McInerny, which plans to close its stores Jan. 31, does not plan to hire any extra workers for the holidays, opting instead to extend hours of current employees.

Doing the most hiring will be service-oriented department stores such as Macy's and Sears Roebuck & Co.

Macy's expects to fill 650 seasonal positions for jobs starting in mid- to late November. The company's Hawai'i human resources director, Joyce Hedani, said the number could not be fairly compared with last year because Macy's was still making the transition from its takeover of Liberty House.

Sears at Ala Moana has already hired about 120 people for the Christmas season, and expects to fill another 50 or 60 positions, according to store general manager Gill Berger.

Berger said the seasonal staffing projection is about the same as last year, and slightly less than two years ago.

Still, Berger is optimistic that sales at the flagship Sears store in Hawai'i will be in line with the 3 to 4 percent increases of national sales forecasts. "We should be at the average or slightly better," he said.

At the Hilo Wal-Mart, store manager Boyd Schneider is optimistic about both holiday sales and hiring, which he said will be up from last year — adding 40 to 50 employees to the permanent staff of about 350.

For smaller retailers though, there is more concern. Carol Pregill, executive director of the Retail Merchants of Hawai'i association, said she suspects many retailers will not hire as many holiday workers as in previous years because of continuing efforts to keep expenses down.

"I think there's a lot of pencil sharpening, adjusting budgets ... because of cost concerns," she said.

Walter Watanabe, general manager of Shirokiya, said he expects stronger Christmas sales this year but is using last year's roughly 50 seasonal hires as a guide.

"We'll probably keep the same (number of extra holiday workers) as last year — or even less," he said. "We need to keep the expenses down."

Reach Andrew Gomes at agomes@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8065.