Competition stiff for holiday retail jobs

WASHINGTON, Oct. 17 (UPI) -- Retail jobs could be hard to come by this holiday season as high unemployment brings more applicants and stores and customers trim spending, retailers say.

The Hay Group consulting firm says about 40 percent of retailers plan to reduce their number of hires by a quarter, The Washington Post reports.

"Retailers are planning for a challenging Christmas season," said Craig Rowley, vice president of Hay's retail practice. "That said, retailers have their fingers crossed that they are wrong."

Government data indicates retail jobs account for around 11 percent of the workforce in the United States, but the sector has shed nearly 600,000 positions this year. Retail woes helped push the national unemployment rate to 9.8 percent.

The economy faltered just before the 2008 holiday shopping season, leaving stores filled with merchandise they couldn't sell. New hires for the 2008 holiday season were down 47 percent from the year before, to 384,300.

John Challenger, chief executive of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, an outplacement consulting firm, predicts there will be more holiday hires this year, but since the unemployment rate is so high, competition will be tough.