Christmas is a festive time at local malls including Fashion Fair in Fresno, where these young folks are waiting to meet Santa Claus. Photo via Fashion Fair

With the temperatures dropping and fall in the air, retailers across the
country will be looking for seasonal employees to help handle the
anticipated wave of shoppers looking to fill their bags and empty their
wallets this holiday season.

In a region dominated by agriculture and seasonal farm employment, hiring
demographics in the Central Valley differ from those statewide throughout
the year, with numbers showing employment in different sectors surging
throughout the year for specific industries.

However, with many retail employers seeking extra holiday help, many
companies will look to hire heading into the holiday season — and with the
lifting of many pandemic-related restrictions for the first time in two years,
the number of employees hired looks to continue an upward trend.

Since the unemployment rate in Fresno County topped out at 17% in April
2020, the rate has steadily been dropping, dipping under 6% for the first
time since September 2019.

As of August, unemployment sits at 5.9%, up slightly from the low of 5.3%
in May.

“This year has been some of the lowest unemployment rates that we’ve
seen going back at least through our data which goes back to 1990,” said
Employment Development Department Labor Market Consultant Steven
Gutierrez. “I know Fresno County has dipped below 6% for the last four
months.”

Last December, total retail employment in Fresno County topped out at
41,400 employees. Previously, the retail sector had not seen 41,000
employees in the workforce since November 2016.

Currently, the retail sector claims 39,100 employees as of August.

Kohls is one of many retailers to have already begun the seasonal
employment push, having hosted a national hiring event in September, with the second of their events scheduled for Oct 13-15.

Other large retailers like Target and Amazon have homed in on goals for
hiring as well.

“Between Fresno and Visalia, we’re hiring 1,000 full-time and part-time
roles,” said Senior Operations Manager for Amazon’s FAT Distribution
Center Chad Reeder. “These roles can be the start of long-term careers
inside or outside the company.”

Other major retailers are also planning nationwide hiring sprees, with
Target aiming to hire up to 100,000 seasonal employees, offering
employees a new starting wage of $15 – $24 an hour.

According to Target, this makes the chain the highest paying retailer in
each of the markets it operates a store or facility.

Gutierrez said that while there are typically several surges of retail
employment hiring throughout the year, by far the largest one is the holiday season.
“Normally this is the time of year that you’re going to see certain industries
ramp up,” Gutierrez said.

Gutierrez said employment sees an overall uptick in the spring when farms
hire seasonal workers. This period lasts typically until September, giving
the Central Valley a unique workforce population.

“Because of that, it drives down the unemployment rate,” Gutierrez said.
“Depending on the season, once farm [season] goes dormant then there’s
a big drop in regard to employment.”

Gutierrez added that the drop in employment following farm season causes
unemployment rates to rise in the winter despite retailers’ seasonal hiring
trends.

Despite the typical seasonal drop, which historically was the case prior to
the pandemic, over the past two years, the unemployment rate has
dropped steadily as the workforce continues to rebuild from record rates of
unemployment.

The steady drop in the unemployment rate throughout the summer months
the past two years could also largely be credited to the shifting of many
retailers to online ordering and delivery services, Gutierrez said.

“Some of that, I’m sure, has increased because a lot of consumers now are
shopping online,” Gutierrez said. “I would say that your online customer
service distribution centers for those particular companies have definitely
increased because of the amount of individuals that are shopping now.”

As unemployment rates continue to drop both nationally and statewide
going into the holiday season, Fresno County and Central Valley retailers
hope this year continues to see jobless rates continue record-breaking
lows, while retail employment numbers continue to see record-breaking
highs.