Unwrapping Holiday Hiring

Retailers and package delivery companies rely on the holiday season to provide an end-of-year boost in sales that makes operating during the rest of the year worthwhile. Some businesses hire extra workers, often on a temporary basis, to get them through this busy time of year.

Oregon’s job buildup in industries with strong holiday employment patterns was 11,196 in 2017, which was close to the average buildup of nearly 11,400 since 2001. The “holiday buildup” is one way to measure holiday hiring activity.

Holiday buildups of the last decade ranged from a high of about 15,000 in 2005 to a financial crisis-induced low of less than half that in 2008. The October through December jobs buildup in the holiday hiring industries that year fell to 7,077, just 6 percent more than September’s level and far below the historical average buildup of 10 percent.

Couriers and messengers had the largest buildup, adding 3,236 jobs in the closing months of 2017. Other industries with a large buildup include general merchandise stores (2,536 jobs), clothing and accessory stores (1,880), and sporting goods, hobby, and book stores (1,124).

To learn more about holiday hiring in Oregon, read the full article written by Economist Felicia Bechtoldt.