The holiday jobs some people expect to appear as regularly as gifts under the Christmas tree aren't as plentiful this year, experts say.
Some national reports say the trend began in 2008, with seasonal hires down nearly 50 percent. The Hay Group, a Philadelphia-based management-consulting group, found in a survey of top retailers that 57 percent would reduce staff for the 2009 holiday season.
Companies, particularly those retailers expected to add staff for the Christmas season, are bringing in fewer people and using their full-time employees more, said Lisa Wyatt, of the Hickory Manpower office.
Manpower is an international employment agency that connects workers with companies for temporary and full-time jobs. When the company embarked on a campaign to help employers fill the expected seasonal jobs this year, companies said they didn't need the service.
"Everybody's a little more flexible these days," Wyatt said. "They're stretching their permanent people so they don't have to hire so much."
That's bad news for college students, moms and teachers who depend on seasonal income to boost savings and help pay for Christmas gifts, said Robbie Sherrill, who owns First Employment Staffing in Hickory.
"When I was working for the city (recruiting seasonal leaf collectors), I would have people come in and see me in July, knowing it wasn't going to happen until November," Sherrill said. "They wanted to get on that list. They were counting on that job."
Hickory hired fewer leaf collectors this year, too, although that is because newer automated trucks require fewer employees, according to Mandy Pitts, the city's communications director.
Seasonal jobs aren't showing up at the Hickory office of the N.C. Employment Security Commission, either, said Manager Allan Mackie.
"We've not seen much of an uptick," he said. "It's pretty flat, which is about the same as last year. It's kind of like the new usual."
He said that is probably a result of high unemployment throughout Catawba and surrounding counties. Retailers have less business so they do less hiring.
Jobs created by a modest holiday shopping rush don't easily make it onto the open market.
"A lot of times, if there is word of mouth or a sign in the window, you'll get plenty of people who are qualified," Mackie said. "That's symptomatic of a lot more people looking for fewer jobs. With unemployment at 14.1 (points), there's no question there's a surplus of qualified labor available."
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