KYLE GREEN The Roanoke Times

Beyonca Preston, a seasonal worker, folds clothing last week in the men's department at Target on Valley View Boulevard in Roanoke. Managers for the Roanoke store say they plan to boost the work force by 30 percent to 35 percent for the holiday season. However, Target is not hiring as many seasonal employees at its stores nationwide. Instead, Target spokeswoman Beth Hanson says the chain plans to dole out more hours to current employees.

KYLE GREEN The Roanoke Times

Jeremy Hilton (left) and Shannon Walker unpack new stock last week at Target's Roanoke store. Hilton, 20, and Walker, 21, said they took seasonal jobs at Target to help pay for holiday gifts.

Not all barometers of the holiday season are visible in the crowded store aisles.

Early in the morning, when it's still dark outside, the lights are on inside Target's store on Valley View Boulevard in Roanoke.

Tired employees in red polo shirts are scattered everywhere, stocking shelves and breaking down boxes. Many of them are there for only a few months, because they're working for the Christmas season.

Target and several other Roanoke retailers are beefing up their numbers of holiday hires, even as other retailers nationwide slim back on seasonal workers. That's contrary to national reports that predict dire job forecasts for Christmas. A survey by Richmond-based SnagAJob.com found that managers will hire 26 percent fewer hourly holiday workers than last year. Retailers are cautious this year because of the poor economy and dampened consumer spending.

But lower unemployment rates in the Roanoke region relative to the hardest hit parts of the nation, and the Roanoke Valley's status as a regional retail hub may be working in favor of those seeking seasonal retail jobs.

In Target's greeting card area, there's Shannon Walker, 21, who was laid off from a temporary job at Appalachian Power Co. He needed to earn money to buy Christmas gifts and birthday presents for his son, whose first birthday is Dec. 22.

In seasonal decor, Jeremy Hilton, 20, a student at Virginia Western Community College, pulls out decorations from boxes and places them on shelves. He's there to earn money for Christmas shopping, with hopes of staying on after the holidays.

In the men's clothing department, Beyonca Preston, 36, folded long-sleeve shirts. She's a beautician, but she took the seasonal Target job to help make ends meet.

As the holidays get closer, at least eight trucks, filled with new merchandise, will make weekly trips to the store.

Seasonal jobs are flowing freely at the Roanoke Target, where managers say they will boost total work force by 30 percent to 35 percent for the important holiday period, when most retailers earn the bulk of their sales for the year.

But Target is not hiring as many seasonal employees this year at its stores nationwide. Instead, Beth Hanson, a Target spokeswoman, said the retailer is doling out additional hours to current employees and cross training some workers to handle various departments in the store.

The Roanoke Target seems immune from these corporate time- and cost-saving moves. Demand during the Christmas season is so great that the local store needs extra hands, from sales associates to people who will unload trucks and stock shelves, manager Ben Stimart said.

Other Roanoke-area retailers are adding holiday season employees to match last year's volumes. From the bookshelves of Barnes & Noble to the long aisles of Walmart, managers say they anticipate a busy season for retail sales and shoppers who are poised to spend, despite economic pressures. They can't afford to cut back on holiday help.

The National Retail Federation forecasts that holiday retail sales will decline by 1 percent this year, which is not as dramatic as the 3.4 percent drop in 2008. Still, no one knows what to expect this holiday season, and some retailers aren't taking chances.

Even if there is slight improvement in hiring in certain pockets of the country, the seasonal employment numbers won't top the levels of 2007, said John Challenger, CEO of the Chicago job placement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

In 2007, retailers hired 618,000 seasonal employees, according to the National Retail Federation. Last year, that number dropped 63 percent, to 231,000.

It's also more difficult to land a holiday job this year because the labor pool is large and competitive. With unemployment rates soaring in many states, retailers are attracting talented applicants, even without advertising. Seasonal employees will earn an average of $10.40 an hour this year, according to SnagAJob.com.

Local store managers are sifting through an unusually high number of applications for Christmas jobs. Many applicants said they were laid off from full-time jobs at some point during the year.

At Kay Jewelers in Tanglewood Mall, manager Tammy Telcher received 50 applications for only two part-time seasonal positions. That's the most applicants that she has ever had for holiday work, she said.

They will mostly be wrapping gifts, greeting customers and helping with jewelry inspections.

The best opportunities for seasonal work likely are at Target or Walmart, because these retailers are "heavily favored by cost-conscious consumers this holiday season," according to a news release from Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

That's why Walmart on Franklin Road can't afford to slim back its holiday staff, manager Aaron Robins said.

"You've got to have the people in order to sell goods," he said. Seasonal employees undergo eight hours of orientation and a few days of training, including shadowing a store associate.

Hiring starts this month for most of Walmart's holiday employees. Many will be stationed in the toy and electronics departments, which are the busiest areas at Christmas. Robins would not disclose exactly how many temporary employees the store will hire.

Barnes & Noble at Valley View Mall will hire five to seven holiday employees to work full-time shifts, manning the cash registers during the holidays while experienced sales associates help shoppers. That's on par with last year's seasonal staff, assistant manager Rich Hippe said.

Hippe said his store expects strong Christmas sales, so management is planning accordingly.

"This is a magnet mall," he said of Valley View. "We get people from all over Western Virginia. It's quite busy here" during the holidays.

Other retailers, such as J.C. Penney at Valley View, are taking their time hiring extra holiday help. They're waiting to see how the season ultimately will fare.

As of mid-October, there were 25 seasonal employees at J.C. Penney. Store manager Brady Hare said he did not know how many more people the store would hire.

This is not an unusual move for retail managers this holiday season, because "the strategic direction is not nearly as clear as it was in the past," said Margie Johnson, a retail consultant based in Virginia Beach.

But why is the holiday jobs outlook rosier in the Roanoke Valley, compared with the rest of the country? It's likely because unemployment rates in Roanoke and Virginia are low, compared with other localities and states, said Cathy McCarthy, who is senior vice president of marketing at SnagAJob.com.

Virginia's unemployment rate was 6.6 percent in September, about 3 percentage points below the national average, according to the Virginia Employment Commission. The jobless rate for the Roanoke Metropolitan Statistical Area was 7.1 percent.

In comparison, Michigan's unemployment rate was 15 percent, McCarthy said.

Unemployment ultimately impacts consumer spending, which drives the retail sector, she explained.

Also, the Roanoke Valley is a commercial hub for much of Southwestern Virginia, likely drawing shoppers from throughout the region during the holidays, said Tim Kestner, a labor economist for the Virginia Employment Commission.

But just because holiday jobs may be easier to find locally, that doesn't mean that the duties are any less intense.

Employees pull all-nighters in the days before Thanksgiving at the Roanoke Target. Also, they're all required to work Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, which marks the start of the Christmas shopping season when retailers hold door-buster sales in the wee morning hours.

This year, Target will open at 5 a.m. on Black Friday. That's an hour earlier than last year.

And if holiday employees don't show up for work on Black Friday?

They're fired, said Devan Nicely, a Target manager.