HELP WANTEDE: TIGHT LABOR MARKET CREATES HIRING TROUBLES FOR HOLIDAY

"Pre-Christmas help wanted!"

"Openings for sales clerks and checker."

"Part-time positions available.

"Hiring for the holidays."

A tight labor market remains the norm throughout the district.

Signs are all around us.

Classified ads in the Southeast Missourian "Help Wanted" section, and signs and banners in a number of retail stores tell the story.

There are not enough workers to go around during the Christmas holidays.

"The labor market is tight," said Jim Govro, manager of West Park Mall. "The situation is already being felt. Employers are getting ready earlier than the norm for the holidays, and a number openings are available."

Merchants throughout the mall are looking for holiday workers and holiday workers are looking for jobs, but former is outweighing the latter.

"Our customer service booth, down the JC Penney corridor, keeps a current list of mall job openings," Govro said.

Some retail business have their own lists, of previous part-time workers, and depend on "word-of-mouth" to fill holiday vacancies. Some stores are hanging signs in the window. Some are even using banners stretched across the store front.

Other companies advertise holiday job openings with pamphlets stuffed into credit card bills. Many have posted "wanted" opportunities on Internet home pages.

Statistics tell the tight employment story.

About 35,000 workers are employed in Cape Girardeau County. That figure could swell to near 36,000 during the Christmas holiday shopping season Friday.

That could mean an additional 1,000 to 1,200 workers as retailers throughout the county brace for the influx of shoppers.

Retailers increase their staffs an average of 3.8 percent during the Christmas season.

Many of these retailers have already boosted their staff size. And although the day after Thanksgiving is usually the biggest shopping day of the Christmas season, retailers are already reporting good sales.

The workforce in Cape Girardeau County stands at 34,941, with 33,683 working, for a 3.6 percent unemployment rate. That leaves 1,258 without jobs.

The situation is not any better in Perry County, where the work force totals about 10,412. With 10,114 people working, the Perry County unemployment rate is among the lowest in the state, at 2.9. In Bollinger County, the unemployment rate is under 5 percent, with 4,686 of the work total of 4,916 working.

"We're receiving a lot of requests for holiday workers," said David Hay, of the Missouri Job Service here. "It seem that employers are getting ready for the holidays a little earlier this year."

In addition to holiday workers, there is healthy demand for workers in other areas, as more than fourth of the employers in the Southeast Missouri are looking to increase their employment, according to employment surveys.

"Thirty percent of companies responding to our fourth-quarter survey indicated they will increase their workforce," said Peggy Gates, of Manpower Inc., a temporary work agency, with an office in Cape Girardeau.

About 64 percent of employers indicated that their employment will remain stable, with about three percent preparing to reduce their work force.

Potential of employment increases appear good in wholesale/retail, transportation/public utilities and services.

Missouri's employment rate is down this fall. Employment dropped, but so did the workforce, as many summer job holders quit and returned to school in September.

The Missouri employment rate is still 95.8 percent. Of the 2,719,300 person workforce 2,596,800 have jobs.

Low levels of unemployment prevailed throughout most of Southern Illinois. Massac County recorded the lowest unemployment rate at 5.6 percent. Union County reported 6 percent unemployment.

Although Alexander and Pulaski counties were in double figures (11.1 and 11.0) both had decreases in unemployment rates.

"Overall, employment activity in construction land retail trade has caused unemployment to decline in Southern Illinois," said Charles M. Vessell, labor market economist at Marion, Ill.

Unemployment rates

Following are unemployment rates for area counties in Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois, with September figures first, followed by August figures, and September of 1997 totals.

Southeast Missouri

Bollinger: 4.7, 4.8, 6.6.

Butler: 4.9, 5.1, 4.9.

Cape Girardeau: 3.6, 3.3, 4.4.

Dunklin: 7.9, 7.0, 7.9.

Madison: 6.2, 6.5, 7.1.

Mississippi: 10.3, 8.5, 8.3.

New Madrid: 9.2, 9.5, 8.8.

Pemiscot: 9.8, 8.9, 9.5.

Perry: 2.9, 3.3, 3.2.

Scott: 5.0, 4.6, 5.6.

Ste. Genevieve, 4.0, 4.0, 458.

Stoddard: 7.4, 9.6, 9.0.

Missouri: 4.2, 4.4, 4.2.

Southern Illinois

Alexander: 11.1, 11.5, 11.3.

Pulaski: 11.0, 12.5, 10.9.

Massac: 5.8, 5.1, 4.6.

Union: 6.0, 6.1, 4.8.

Jackson: 5.3, 4.8, 5.2.

Randolph: 6.1, 6.6, 7.5.

Williamson: 8.3, 12.6, 8.0.

Johnson: 7.6, 9.2, 7.1.

Illinois: 4.4, 4.7, 5.0.

U.S.: 4.6, 4.7, 5.0