Nearly 1,300 seasonal job could be coming to Nevada

A hiring blitz planned by Lowe’s and Home Depot could add nearly 1,300 seasonal jobs to a Nevada retail economy already showing signs of strengthening, the Nevada Retail Association said Thursday in a statement.

The nation’s two largest home improvement chains have announced plans to hire thousands of seasonal workers as they prepare for consumer demand to rise as warmer weather approaches.

Lowe’s plans to add 46,000 seasonal hires across its 1,845 stores nationwide as the company enters the busiest time of year for home improvement retailers. With an average of 25 positions per store, Lowe’s could add more than 400 seasonal jobs at the chain’s 17 Nevada locations, according to estimates by the Retail Association of Nevada (RAN). That number includes more than 300 positions at the company’s 13 Southern Nevada stores.

Home Depot plans to hire even more aggressively, adding 80,000 seasonal employees at its 2,000 stores nationwide. With an average of 40 positions per store, RAN expects Home Depot to add more than 800 seasonal workers in Nevada, including more than 500 positions at its 13 Southern Nevada locations.

The springtime hiring announcements come as Nevada’s retail economy reported strong growth in 2015, the trade group said in the statement.

Statewide taxable retail sales continued their steady post-recession recovery last year, reaching $51.7 billion by the end of the year (the latest available data), according to RAN. That represents a 5.5 percent increase over 2014, which was higher than the nationwide annual growth in retail sales of 2 percent. Consumer spending growth was even stronger in Clark County, where taxable retail sales rose 5.6 percent year-over-year to $38.6 billion.

Sales in the building materials and garden equipment and supplies sector have also been positive, growing 10 percent statewide and 11.8 percent in Clark County from 2014 to 2015.

“The strong taxable retail sales growth in 2015, including a 5.7 percent annual increase in the fourth quarter holiday spending season, point to a positive year ahead,” Bryan Wachter, Senior Vice President of RAN, said in the statement.