Walmart staffed up for holidays; US retailers cautious about economy

By Siddharth Cavale

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Walmart signaled it has enough staff for the holidays, in another sign that top U.S. retailers, fearing a seasonal shopping slowdown, are holding off on the typical hiring sprees for the peak period.

"We're staffed and ready to serve the customers this holiday season," Maren Dollwet Wagonner, senior vice-president of people, said in a LinkedIn post last week. "We've been hiring throughout the year to be sure we are ready to serve customers however they want to shop."

Stores needing extra hands will offer workers additional hours and hire more as necessary, a spokesperson said on Monday.

The holiday shopping season traditionally begins on the day after Thanksgiving, which falls on Nov. 23 this year, and ends on Christmas, but has been starting earlier every year. The period accounts for more than a third of annual income for most U.S. retailers.

Walmart, like other retail chains, has been cautious in its holiday season outlook, saying customers are stressed by high food prices, depleted savings and higher interest rates. This could make them hold back on buying top holiday items, like electronics, apparel and home goods, its executives have said.

Rising labor costs are also a factor.

"There is a greater sense from retailers that they are going to have increasingly higher costs of labor that they cannot pass down to consumers who are feeling the pinch of rising interest rates," said Andrew Challenger, senior vice president of Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

Retailers are also asking employees for more help with staffing this year, said Neil Costa, founder of recruitment marketing company HireClix.

"There's a bigger push for referrals in the retail market than there was previously versus just putting all the money into advertising."

Seasonal hiring by U.S. retailers is set to drop to levels last seen in 2008, a Challenger, Gray & Christmas report showed, while holiday sales are estimated to grow at their slowest in five years.

Walmart's LinkedIn post about hiring was unusual, after years of public announcements about its hiring numbers and job openings. The statement from America's largest private employer with 1.7 million employees offered analysts insight into possible holiday shopping results.

Last year, Walmart said it would hire 40,000 workers. The LinkedIn post did not state a hiring target for this year.

Except for Amazon, which plans to hire 250,000 holiday season workers, several other U.S. chains including Macy's have issued muted hiring plans for the period.

While U.S. retail job applications are up 46%, job openings are down 25% and actual retail hiring is down by 12% in the year through September, according to talent acquisition company iCIMS.

In Britain, retailers such as Sainsbury's and Marks & Spencer anticipate hiring more temporary workers than last year, despite one in three Britons planning to cut back on Christmas spending.

(Reporting by Siddharth Cavale in New York; Editing by Mark Porter and Richard Chang)