LYNCHBURG, Va. (WFXR) — The holiday season is right around the corner and employers are looking for additional workers to help keep up through the busy season. However, hiring this year may look a little different.
Virginia Career Works says seasonal hiring is lower than it has been for several years, but says that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
It says the decrease in the need for seasonal workers is an indication that the workforce is balancing out.
Dean of the College of Business at the University of Lynchburg, Nancy Hubbard, says this means full-time employees are coming back to the workforce, and staying there, meaning the need for seasonal workers is going down.
“It’s starting to even out; we’re having less of the peaks and troughs that we had post-covid,” said Hubbard.
However, the business engagement and outreach coordinator at Virginia Career Works, Tim Saunders, says there is still some need for seasonal workers, especially in the retail and food service industries.
He adds that in central and southwest Virginia, many manufacturing companies will be hiring seasonally as well.
“Because the economic conditions are still good overall for employers, they still need the workers,” said Saunders.
Saunders says seasonal work typically is more flexible and has fewer demands, making it ideal for students, those looking to earn a little extra money around the holidays, or people just getting back into the workforce.
He says early November is usually when businesses start getting busy with holiday consumers, so the time to look for seasonal work is right now.
“Those jobs are still going to be out there, but you may have to search a little bit harder than you did in 2022, 2021 for those jobs,” said Saunders.
