Hundreds of retail jobs are available at Snohomish County’s two largest malls, where merchants are beefing up staffs for the holiday shopping season and new shops are preparing to open.
On Saturday, Alderwood mall and WorkSource Snohomish County will host a job fair at which retailers will try to fill about 500 positions, said Dianna Carlson, Alderwood’s marketing coordinator.
Some are seasonal jobs, but stores also have permanent positions available, she said.
Meanwhile, at Everett Mall, four new stores will take applications over the next few weeks.
The spate of hiring comes at a time when the county’s job creation rate leads the state. As of August, the unemployment rate in Snohomish County was 4.6 percent.
That means there’s much more competition for workers than there would have been a year or two ago, said Donna Thompson of the state Employment Security Department.
“As we get to the low 4s, if the unemployment rate keeps going down, we’ll get to the position of full employment,” Thompson said, adding that she’s already seeing “help wanted” signs at a growing number of businesses.
At Alderwood, Carlson said she expects a good crowd for Saturday’s job fair despite the growing competition for qualified workers.
“It’s definitely difficult in this setting to get management-experienced people, so I know they’ll be on the lookout for those people,” she said.
Stores that will be looking for new employees at the job fair include Macy’s, Sears, REI, Bath and Body Works, Starbucks, Pottery Barn and Williams-Sonoma.
At Everett Mall, upcoming openings of Best Buy, Old Navy, Borders Books &Music and Bed Bath &Beyond mean jobs need to be filled in the coming weeks.
Reporter Eric Fetters: 425-339-3453 or fetters@heraldnet.com.
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