Despite the financial crisis that has forced some stores into bankruptcy, Pittsburgh-area retailers say there has not been a drop-off in hiring extra employees for the holiday season.
"We hire every holiday season, and this year is about the same level as last year," said Ronald Rodriguez, manager of the REI store at SouthSide Works.
The outdoors/sporting goods store hired about 15 employees, starting in September, allowing REI sufficient time to train them, Rodriguez said. Rodriguez said the store received about 50 applications for the 15 openings.
The Pittsburgh region's retail jobs sector, like the region's overall economy, often acts contrary to national trends. And the area has done so again, experts say.
The U.S. retail industry dropped 38,100 jobs in October, bringing total jobs lost since January to 297,000. But Michael P. Niemira, chief economist at the International Council of Shopping Centers, said the Pittsburgh region's retail sector has gained jobs.
Retail employment in the Pittsburgh region -- Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Washington and Westmoreland counties -- gained 800 jobs from January to September and totals 129,900, according to state figures. In December, at the peak of the holiday shopping season last year, retail accounted for 136,500 jobs.
Retailers' requests to the PA CareerLink of Westmoreland County for help in finding seasonal workers this year has been about the same as last year, said Anthony Gebicki, district coordinator in Youngwood.
"I don't see any significant drop. The part-time and seasonal is probably about the same," Gebicki said. "Everybody's talking about it (a slowdown in shopping), but at least (stores) are putting people on."
Macy's department stores are hiring more seasonal help for its six stores in the Pittsburgh area than it did last year, said Heather Hannan, a spokeswoman in Columbus, Ohio. The company doesn't release employment numbers.
FedEx Ground, based in Robinson, which delivers packages to homes and businesses, has not curtailed its seasonal hiring in Western Pennsylvania.
The company is hiring about 123 temporary drivers and 45 temporary package handlers as needed in November and December to handle the holiday package volume for its ground and home delivery business at its facilities on Neville Island, Sewickley and Hempfield, said spokeswoman Allison Sobczak.
At the Pittsburgh Mills shopping complex in Frazer, "in general ... the stores are being a little more conservative in their hiring plans, but they are hiring," said Jerry Crites, general manager.
Most of the hiring is done by major national retail anchors, including Macy's, Sears and J.C. Penney, he said.
A number of smaller retail outlets usually set up shop on a temporary basis for the holidays at Pittsburgh Mills and most other shopping malls, creating additional employment. Hickory Farms and Calendar Club are among such outlets, Crites said.
At Giant Eagle Supermarkets Inc. in O'Hara, the region's top supermarket chain is hiring seasonal employees, and the staffing levels will be similar to those in recent years, Giant Eagle spokesman Dick Roberts said.
Regardless of the recent hiring for seasonal help, the Pittsburgh region "has been losing retail jobs consistently for quite a while," said Harold D. Miller, president of Downtown-based Future Strategies LLC, a consulting firm.
The region averaged 131,100 retail-trade jobs in the region last year, down from an average of 141,500 jobs in 2000 -- the peak year this decade, Miller said. From September 2000's retail employment of 141,000, the region has lost 9 percent of its jobs, dropping to 127,900 jobs in September 2008.
The job loss is not surprising, he said, because the retail sector fundamentally is driven by population growth. The region has lost population; therefore, the fewer people an area has would result in fewer retail jobs.
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