Up to 5,200 people are expected to be hired for holiday season jobs in San Diego this year. Career training and placement professionals met at the South Metro Career Center Thursday to learn more about the outlook for the local job market.
A panel of local employers said they’re looking to add workers with flexible schedules and positive attitudes to their payrolls.
Target and Home Depot are among the companies that are expected to contribute to the 4,200 to 5,200 holidays jobs forecasted by Point Loma Nazarene University.
Some are hopeful the increased holiday hiring by companies like those is a signal of better times to come.
“Recently the government said the recession had ended -- people snickered," said Steve Corona, president of JobWorks, Inc., the organization that runs the South Metro Career Center. "But, this may be a more tangible piece of evidence that, that the recession is slowly winding down.”
Last year only 3,000 holiday workers were hired in the region. Before the recession, as many as 11,000 temporary jobs were created to handle the holiday rush.
Beyond the holiday season the most growth will happen in areas that depend on science, technology, education and math skills, according to Chuck Flacks, director of research for the Workforce Partnership. He said he expects the fastest growing occupations to fall at the lowest and highest end of the salary spectrum, with little growth in mid-skill level jobs.
