Christmas season hiring is a fairly small blip when it comes to total employment in Minnesota, but it does affect a handful of industries and keeps unemployment lower than it might otherwise be at the start of winter.

Holiday hiring typically is strongest in two industries in Minnesota: the retail trade sector and transportation and warehousing.

In each of the past five years (2010 to 2014), retail trade employment increased by nearly 11,000 jobs on average in Minnesota between September and December. That represents a 3.9 percent jump over average employment in the industry.

Transportation and warehousing employment follows a similar pattern. Employment bumps up by an average of almost 2,700 jobs between September and December - or about 3.3 percent over average employment in the industry.

Jody Pepinski, a business service specialist at DEED's Burnsville WorkForce Center, says anyone who wants seasonal part-time work in the Twin Cities probably can find a job right now.

Nearly every store at the Twin Cities Premium Outlets mall in Eagan and the Burnsville Center enclosed mall in Burnsville is hiring, she said. Meanwhile, major retailers J.C. Penney and Macy's are each looking to fill 100 jobs.

On the transportation and warehousing side of things, United Parcel Service and FedEx are each trying to fill 200 temporary openings for package handlers and drivers. Amazon's fulfillment center in Shakopee is looking for 200 workers. Also in Shakopee, Shutterfly, a California-based company that processes, prints and packages millions of cards and other products during the holiday season, has 100 openings in warehousing and shipping.

A third industry - arts, entertainment and recreation - also sees a bump in employment in December, but only by about 250 jobs on average and only for that one month.

DEED's Oriane Casale says another way that employers can keep up with demand in a tight labor market is to increase the hours of existing workers.

This shows up in both retail trade and in transportation and warehousing, with hours bumping up by just over 30 minutes per week on average between September and December in both industries. Some of the increases for existing staff are probably masked by the influx of new staff members who are more likely to be asked to work part-time schedules or intermittent shifts.

This year is likely to see similar patterns in these industries, with some of the increased demand taken care of through hiring and some through increased hours.

As the labor market tightens and the unemployment rate drops, however, employers will have more difficulty finding workers willing to take short-term, part-time jobs. This may shift the balance toward increased average weekly hours for existing staff. We have yet to see how this tradeoff will play out this year, Casale said.

DEED WorkForce Centers have job fairs and other hiring events throughout December. Go here for more details.