Gamestop to hire 17,000 seasonal workers

Gamestop will hire 17,000 seasonal workers, in line with last year's holiday season hiring

GRAPEVINE, Texas (AP) -- Video game retailer GameStop Corp. said Monday it plans to hire 17,000 seasonal staffers for the holidays and the upcoming launch of new video game consoles PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

The number of seasonal hires is in line with last year. Positions include store staffers, consumer electronic technicians and warehouse personnel for its two distribution centers in Kentucky and Texas.

Analysts study the holiday hiring figures from retailers for clues about overall employment trends and sales expectations for the holiday season. Stores typically begin to hire for the holidays in mid-September and ramp up hiring in mid-October.

Overall holiday hiring is expected to be relatively flat because of cautious consumer spending and uncertainty about the economy. Employer consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. estimates that overall seasonal hiring will not change significantly from last year's total, when hiring rose 14 percent to 751,800 positions between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31.

Gamestop shares closed Monday unchanged at $49.65, while the broader markets fell sharply. The stock has traded between $20.55 and $56.08 in the past 52 weeks.

Advertisement