Page Banner
Other/Misc.

Contact Kronos

Want to learn more? We can help you.
contact us
Loading...

Kronos Retail Labor Index™ Shows Retailers Hired Late for 2010 Holiday Season

CHELMSFORD, Mass., Jan. 10, 2011 — Kronos® Incorporated today announced the January release of the Kronos Retail Labor Index™, a family of metrics and indices that analyze the relationship between the demand and supply sides of the labor market within the U.S. retail sector, and provide a distinct and early indicator of the overall state of the economy. The January report includes data for December 2010. The report is available on the Kronos Retail Labor Index website.

News Facts

  • The Kronos Retail Labor Index: (This metric is defined as the percentage of job applications that result in a hiring, normalized within a scale of 0 to 100. A level of 3.0 percent means that for every 100 applications received, three hirings occurred). The Kronos Retail Labor Index increased slightly this month from 3.84 percent in November to 3.85 percent in December.
  • Retail Hiring Level: The retailers representing 27,034 distributed locations across the U.S. that make up the Kronos data sample recorded 63,587 hirings (on a seasonally adjusted basis) in December, a significant 13.49 percent increase over the November 2010 seasonally adjusted figure of 56,028. This was also a dramatic increase of 86.87 percent over the 34,027 hirings that occurred in December 2009.
  • Retail Applications Level: The supply of applications also increased significantly, to a seasonally adjusted level of 1,653,520 in December, a 13.47 percent increase over the 1,457,264 applications processed in November 2010, and a 10.09 percent increase from the 1,501,919 applications processed in December 2009.
  • Retail Employee Retention Rate: Employee retention increased slightly in December with 83.97 percent of employees remaining on the job 60 days or more, as compared with 83.22 percent in November 2010.
  • Holiday season hiring spiked dramatically in November and December to a much larger degree than in previous years, as retailers adopted a just-in-time labor strategy.

Supporting Quotes

  • Dr. Robert Yerex, chief economist, Kronos
    "The 2010 holiday hiring season confirmed that employers waited until the last minute to hire holiday staff. The combination of a larger pool of available workers and increased use of technology to more effectively manage existing employees is fueling this trend."

Supporting Resources

  • Organizations that use Kronos hiring solutions employ approximately 15 percent of the U.S. consumer retail labor market, providing Kronos with a unique set of data on employee job applications, hirings, and length of service.
  • The Kronos Retail Labor Index is released on a monthly basis. Go to www.kronos.com/retail-labor-index to access: the full report; a schedule of upcoming Index release dates; the Index methodology; and downloadable graphics.
  • Note to reporters:  cite Index findings as "Kronos Retail Labor Index".

About the Kronos Retail Labor Index

The Kronos Retail Labor Index is a family of metrics and indices that analyze the relationship between the demand and the supply sides of the labor market within the U.S. retail sector. It is derived from a single, unified data set, allowing for statistically appropriate comparisons and time series-based trending analysis. Firms that use Kronos hiring solutions employ approximately 15 percent of the U.S. consumer retail labor market, providing Kronos with a unique set of data on employee job applications, hirings, and length of service. The Kronos Retail Labor Index provides a distinct and early indicator of the health of the retail sector.

About Kronos Incorporated

Kronos is the global leader in workforce management solutions that enable organizations to control labor costs, minimize compliance risk, and improve workforce productivity. Tens of thousands of organizations in 60 countries — including more than half of the Fortune 1000® — use Kronos time and attendance, scheduling, absence management, HR and payroll, hiring, and labor analytics applications. To learn how Kronos uniquely delivers complete automation and high-quality information in an easy-to-use solution, visit www.kronos.com. 

###

© 2011 Kronos Incorporated. Kronos is a registered trademark and Kronos Retail Labor Index is a trademark of Kronos Incorporated or a related company. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners. 

Contact
Laura Souza
Kronos Incorporated
+1 978.947.9477
laura.souza@kronos.com