Christmas Comes Early for Spain’s Jobseekers as Headcount Jumps

(Bloomberg) -- Christmas is providing a boost for thousands of Spanish jobseekers as retailers increase their seasonal staff to meet renewed demand from shoppers enjoying the economic recovery.

Spanish retailer El Corte Ingles SA, the biggest department store group in Europe, announced it will be adding approximately 8,500 workers before the Christmas season to cover positions such as gift wrapping and customer support. That's almost a 21 percent increase from 2015. Meanwhile, U.S. toy retailer Toys “R” Us Inc said it plans to add 1,700 new Christmas staff while online retailer Amazon plans to hire more than 1,000 workers to meet extra demand in its Spanish business.

The hiring drive reflects a more buoyant consumer backdrop in Spain, where unemployment fell to the lowest in more than six years in the third quarter and economic growth is twice the euro-area average. The improved scenario coupled with job creation is getting more shoppers through the door, prompting companies to add staff to cope with demand.

Even so, Christmas hiring puts the spotlight on Spain's problem with short-term contracts, which often sees workers being hired for a limited time, losing out to permanent workers who benefit from job security and perks.

Christmas Campaign

Adding to the positive outlook, a study by Randstad, a recruitment agency, expects Spanish retailers to add 338,000 new jobs this Christmas, an 11.5 percent increase from last year, making it the best Christmas campaign for job creation ever, according to the firm. Retail, logistics and transport-related jobs are the most sought-after, Randstad said, noting that most contracts come to effect in November and end in January as the holidays wrap up.

“The improvement in consumption, both internal and external, coupled with an increase in sales volume from companies, puts us on course for the best-ever Christmas season,” said Luis Perez, institutional relations director at Randstad. “Contracts with a set duration satisfy the demands of the labor market.”

Most of the jobs created in the third quarter were short-term contracts, while close to 2 million of the current 4.3 million unemployed Spaniards have been out of work for more two years, signalling the nation's problems when it comes to better-quality jobs and tackling structural unemployment.

--With assistance from Rodrigo Orihuela and Macarena Munoz To contact the reporter on this story: Maria Tadeo in Madrid at mtadeo@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Fergal O'Brien at fobrien@bloomberg.net, Kevin Costelloe, Andrew Atkinson