Looking for extra holiday income? In South Florida, jobs are still available

Jimmy Knips, owner of famed local holiday retailer The Christmas Palace, has reason to be joyful. Foot traffic has been picking up and his online sales are robust enough to keep Santa delivering packages til dawn.

But the Grinch — in the form of the pandemic — has stolen some of the elves that usually look for extra work at the holidays.

“There were a lot more applicants in previous seasons,” he said. He received just over 100 applications; he’s used to fielding hundreds more.

While he was able to hire the necessary workers needed for his two stores, it wasn’t easy. He thinks unemployment checks may be deterring applicants from looking at temporary jobs paying $12 to $15 an hour.

Nationally, holiday-related searches on Indeed.com are down 38% compared to the last two years. It’s likely that health concerns and childcare barriers are tempering interest, said Indeed Economist AnnElizabeth Konkel.

While holiday job postings nationwide were down just 1% this November compared to last year, according to Indeed, its jobs site shows almost 150 positions available in Miami-Dade.

Retail expert Beth Azor, founder and principal of Azor Advisory Services in Weston, estimated that at the beginning of the month, 50% of tenants she works with had “for hire” signs in their windows — roles she said they had seemingly been unable to fill.

While Macy’s said it would hire slightly fewer seasonal employees this year than last at its fulfillment facilities, its hiring site shows some 87 jobs still available in Miami-Dade.

Interviews with young workers may help explain why.

For Joshua Bacallao, a senior at Florida State University, seasonal work this year meant a second stint at a warehouse where he previously worked in Hialeah. The 20-year-old said he returned because he was familiar with the company and the job requires minimal interaction with the public.

“I only interact with the people that work here. There’s not much outside interaction, so it’s different from a restaurant or a store,” he said. He tries to work a seasonal job every year to keep up with rent and make extra money for the holidays.

Valentina Quiroz, 18, has worked as a seasonal employee at The Christmas Palace since she was 15. COVID-19 makes her nervous, she said, but she returned to her cashier job at the store this season, where she works behind newly installed plexiglass sheets at the cash register. Employees are required to wear masks.

“I feel safe here because it’s like a family,” she said.

This story was originally published December 11, 2020 at 9:25 AM.