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Seasonal job opportunities provide boost to the economy

Posted on December 10th, 2014 Read time: 2 minutes

Now that the holiday season is here, many companies involved in the retail sector are ramping up their hiring activities to account for the increase in shopping activity. It's not uncommon for shipping organizations, production factories and brick-and-mortar store locations to bolster their workforce and this hiring activity is a positive for the economy.

According to a report from New Jersey newspaper The Record, three counties in the state – Hudson, Bergen and Passaic – have seen temporary employment opportunities increase by 57 percent. In these locations, there are currently 25,600 open opportunities for supplemental staffing workers.

While this certainly doesn't address the need for more permanent opportunities, temporary assignments serve a unique purpose that benefits job seekers and the company needing to add to their payrolls.

"When a client does have a project that has start date and end date, using variable labor is cost-effective for them so they don't have to hire a permanent person to handle something that's going to be temporary in nature," Ryan Gatto, regional vice president for Robert Half International, told the newspaper.

This strategy applies to any company regardless of its size. However, the bonus for those who find temp work have a chance to prove his or her worth and may? be offered a full-time position. On the plus side for employers is the fact the skills of temporary workers are broad. There are many people who would be classified as entry-level candidates. However, there are a great deal of people with years of demonstrated professional experience that are also looking for an opportunity to display their talents.

An employer of record that has clients with open positions that need to be filled should have no problem finding quality candidates among the scores of temporary workers who are actively seeking employment opportunities.

Jobs report continues to show positive trends
International Business Times, citing the U.S. Department of Labor's most recent jobs report which was released in November, stated that the unemployment rate in America has been consistently hovering at a six-year low of just 5.8 percent. In addition, more jobs were added to the economy that month than what was seen over the past three years.

Many of these opportunities were temporary or seasonal in scope, but the sheer number of positions that were created or opened by companies is a certainly a good sign.

For example, United Parcel Service was looking to hire 95,000 job seekers to work from October through January of the New Year. Amazon, the world's largest e-commerce retailer, expanded the workforce in its warehouse fulfillment facilities by 80,000. Although nearly all of these positions were temporary in nature, the size and scope of the hiring activity is something to consider.

Many people will, for obvious reasons, want a full-time opportunity as opposed to a seasonal one. However, the fact that seasonal hiring has seen such a tremendous uptick is promising. Additionally, while not all temporary workers will be converted into permanent roles, there opportunity to go full-time is present based on performance. This is yet another promising sign for the nation's economic recovery. 

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