E-Commerce Sales Affect Retail Warehouse Hiring for the Holidays

Staffing agencies for logistics companies and retailers are reporting having trouble hiring warehouse workers to stock holiday inventory. The need for warehouse workers has grown as online shopping sales have increased. Increased online ordering raises the difficulty of warehouse jobs requiring more picking, packing and higher volume work in the warehouses.

Companies have had to raise starting pay to attract workers. Most logistics warehouses are located in similar geographic clusters, and retailers are competing for the same workers. UPS plans to hire 90,000-95,000 seasonal workers for the holidays. Retailers are commenting that rising e-commerce sales means less need for traditional store clerks and more need for people to handle shipments.

Source: Wall St. Journal