Major Hudson Valley Retailers Struggling To Hire Workers
Some major retailers in the Hudson Valley are struggling to hire workers for the 2018 winter holiday season.
Business Insider reports that big box stores are having issues filling retail jobs for this year's holiday shopping season. In July 2018, there were roughly 757,000 retail job openings across the country. That's about 100,000 more than July 2017. There were more openings for March 2018 through June 2018 than there were hires in the retail industry.
Target, JCPenny, Kohl's, and Macy's are four of the major retailers that are still hunting for holiday help. Kohl's and JCPenny started hiring holiday help at the beginning of summer 2018. On Thursday, Target announced they would be hiring 120,000 workers for the season, which is 20% more hires than last year, according to Business Insider. Macy's plans to hire 80,000 workers for the winter holiday season.
Business Insider says that workers want a full-time job and benefits, causing the temporary holiday help positions to go unfilled. These retailers have started to offer better incentives to employees to fill the jobs. Kohl's is offering 15% off to employees and associate shopping days. JCPenny is offering some new hires paid training, paid time off, and even making some people eligible for a 401K plan. Macy's is letting part-time employees join their 'Path To Grow Incentive Plan', which rewards workers with bonuses based on performance.