Macy’s plans to hire 65,000 holiday workers, a slight increase from previous years

Anticipating solid sales growth for the rest of the year, department store giant Macy’s Inc. said Thursday that it planned to hire 65,000 holiday workers, a slight increase from previous years.

The mostly part-time positions will be in the company’s stores and also in its distribution, online fulfillment and call centers nationwide. In some cases, temporary seasonal workers are offered permanent positions based on their skills and performance over the holiday season, the company said.

The increased hiring levels reflect the company’s expectations for sales at stores open at least a year to increase 3% to 3.5% in the second half of fiscal 2010.

“It is vitally important that our customers are well-served during the busiest shopping time of the year,” Chief Executive Terry J. Lundgren said. “Many of our seasonal hires are students on break, stay-at-home parents, individuals in career transitions or those with extra time they would like to use productively.”

Applications for the positions are now being accepted online, with hiring for store sales positions to begin early next month, the company said.

Cincinnati-based Macy’s operates about 850 department stores under the Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s names.

In its annual holiday hiring forecast released this week, outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. said sales gains in recent months could lead to increased holiday hiring by the nation’s retailers this year. But it added that the number of seasonal workers added to retail payrolls from October through December was still likely to fall short of pre-recession levels.

“There is still a lot of doubt about the sustainability of this economy,” said John A. Challenger, chief executive of Challenger, Gray & Christmas. “Retailers do not want to be caught with too many workers at a time when many of the fundamentals needed for strong consumer spending remain a little shaky.”

andrea.chang@latimes.com