Thousands of Seasonal Jobs to Boost U.S. Hiring Numbers in Fourth Quarter

---

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Throughout 2013, employment has remained a hot-button topic in the U.S. The monthly hiring numbers have not been high enough to keep pace with normal growth in the country, and as a result the unemployment rate has remained higher than anticipated. However, as the final quarter nears, the annual holiday hiring spree is about to begin. While the vast majority of these jobs will be temporary in nature, a number will become permanent, which will boost the number of monthly jobs created and, hopefully, help to lower the unemployment rate by the end of 2013.

Each year, the announcements for upcoming temporary jobs have come earlier. At the end of September, some companies--mainly in the retail sector--began announcing their estimated number of temporary positions for the coming months. As companies strive to be as close to fully staffed as possible by the Thanksgiving holiday, tens of thousands of temporary jobs will become available in order to handle the Black Friday shopping crowds.

In addition to retailers, shipping companies will conduct significant hiring before the holidays. Given the ever-increasing amount of internet-based shopping in the U.S. during the holidays, long-distance shipping companies are in dire need of additional personnel to eradicate logjams in their sorting and distribution centers, as well as additional drivers to help make timely deliveries. Delivering all of those Christmas gifts each and every year has become a very competitive business that can mean billions in additional revenue for shipping companies.

Some manufacturers also will look at hiring temporary workers this year. Since the end of the recession, manufacturers have shifted toward running leaner operations that focus on productivity and eliminate excess workers. Because of this, companies have been slow to hire new full-time workers and instead have made employees work at the most efficient pace. As the holiday season approaches and additional production is required to meet demand, temporary workers will be added to the workforce to boost production for the busy season.

Hundreds of thousands of new temporary jobs will be available in the coming weeks for the millions who have been without consistent work since the beginning of the recession. Some of these jobs do turn into permanent positions after the New Year, as companies are constantly looking for competent workers, which should help the unemployment rate in the short term. All of this hiring would artificially lower the unemployment rate if the government did not seasonally adjust the unemployment rate to take into account the temporary and secular nature of this hiring. By the end of January, most of these jobs will have disappeared, and hiring will return to more normal patterns.

The temporary hiring season begins in October. Staffing up for the holidays is a time-honored tradition in the U.S., and while it is certainly welcome to those who have struggled to find employment since the recession began, it is only a temporary fix for a short period of time. Ultimately, hiring will return to more normal levels, and as the focus of hiring has shifted away from the manufacturing sectors to the private service-providing sectors, it is unlikely that the country will see a continued boost in hiring past the end of January next year.



Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, three offices in North America and nine international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.