by Calculated Risk on 11/05/2010 02:21:00 PM

According to the BLS employment report, retailers hired seasonal workers at about the pre-crisis pace in October.

Click on graph for larger image.

Typically retail companies start hiring for the holiday season in October, and really increase hiring in November. Here is a graph that shows the historical net retail jobs added for October, November and December by year.

This really shows the collapse in retail hiring in 2008 and modest rebound in 2009.

Retailers hired 150.9 thousand workers (NSA) net in October. This is about the same level as in 2003 through 2006. Note: this is NSA (Not Seasonally Adjusted), retailers hired 28 thousand workers SA in October.

This suggests retailers are fairly optimistic about the holiday season.

Earlier employment posts:

October Employment Report: 151,000 Jobs, 9.6% Unemployment Rate

Employment-Population Ratio, Part Time Workers, Unemployed over 26 Weeks

Graphics Gallery for Employment