Holiday hiring in 2011 is expected to maintain last year’s levels, according to a report released Thursday by the National Retail Federation.
Retailers are expected to take on between 480,000 to 500,000 temporary workers this year, inline with the 495,000 seasonal workers hired in 2010, and well below the pre-recession highs.
Outplacement firm, Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Chief Executive Officer John Challenger confirmed in a separate report that seasonal hiring will be about the same or lower than a year ago, when employment grew by 627,600 from October through December, money.cnn.com reports.
“It would be surprising if holiday hiring exceeded last year’s level,” said Challenger. “Consumers are just tapped out.”
