The biggest wave of seasonal hiring in a decade suggests that 2014 holiday retail sales will be their strongest in years.
In recent weeks retailers have been scrambling to hire more seasonal workers than usual in advance of the holiday shopping season.
Outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas says this year retailers could add as many as 800,000 workers - the most since 1999.
Several retailers are particularly optimistic.
Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) plans to increase its seasonal hires by 14% over last year. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) is adding 10% more. And Kohl's Corp. (NYSE: KSS) plans to boost its holiday staff by a whopping 25% over 2013.
The delivery companies are hiring like mad, too. Challenger, Gray & Christmas says UPS (NYSE: UPS) plans to hire 95,000 seasonal workers this fall - 40,000 more than its 2013 projection.
A blockbuster holiday retail sales season would not only help the stocks of these companies, it would be a great sign for the U.S. economic recovery.
To see just how big an impact holiday retail sales has, check out the graphic below:
Infographic courtesy of: Adecco
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About the Author
David Zeiler, Associate Editor for Money Morning at Money Map Press, has been a journalist for more than 35 years, including 18 spent at The Baltimore Sun. He has worked as a writer, editor, and page designer at different times in his career. He's interviewed a number of well-known personalities - ranging from punk rock icon Joey Ramone to Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Wozniak.
Over the course of his journalistic career, Dave has covered many diverse subjects. Since arriving at Money Morning in 2011, he has focused primarily on technology. He's an expert on both Apple and cryptocurrencies. He started writing about Apple for The Sun in the mid-1990s, and had an Apple blog on The Sun's web site from 2007-2009. Dave's been writing about Bitcoin since 2011 - long before most people had even heard of it. He even mined it for a short time.
Dave has a BA in English and Mass Communications from Loyola University Maryland.