Kronos Retail Labor Index Unchanged From Last Month, Consistent with Slow Economic Recovery
CHELMSFORD, Mass., Sept. 6, 2011 — Kronos Incorporated today announced the September release of the Kronos Retail Labor Index™, a family of metrics and indices that characterize the current state of the demand and supply sides of the labor market within the U.S. retail sector. The September report includes data for August 2011. The analysis and write-up is prepared by Macroeconomic Advisers LLC, and is available on the Kronos Retail Labor Index website.
News Facts
- The Kronos Retail Labor Index: (This index is defined as the ratio of hires to applicants within a given month, expressed as a percentage. A level of 3.0 percent means that for every 100 applications received, three hires occurred). The Kronos Retail Labor Index was unchanged at 3.5 percent in August 2011, as both hires and applications increased slightly, all on a seasonally adjusted basis.
- Retail Hiring Level: The retailers representing 13,755 distributed locations across the U.S. that make up the Kronos® data sample recorded 32,819 hires (seasonally adjusted) in August 2011, up 1.4 percent from a revised 32,377 hires in July 2011.
- Retail Applications Level: The number of applications received by retailers in the Kronos sample rose 2.5 percent in August 2011, to 948,076, from a revised 925,378 in July 2011, all on a seasonally adjusted basis.
- Retail 60-Day Retention Rate: The 60-day retention rate, measured as the number of hires who remain employed for at least the first 60 days divided by the total number of hires made in that month, rose to 85 percent (seasonally adjusted) in April from 84.6 percent in March (Note: There is a four-month lag on this indicator as two months are required to measure whether a hire remained employed for 60 days and Kronos customers have two months to return data on separations.)
Supporting Quotes
- Chris Varvares, senior managing director and co-founder, Macroeconomic Advisers
"Despite the 1.4 percent rise in August, it remains the case that retail hiring has really only begun to recover since the end of the recession, with hiring by firms included in the Kronos sample just 8.5 percent above the first quarter of 2009. Nevertheless, this is considerably stronger than retail hiring as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which is up just 2.7 percent since early 2009. A strong report on retail sales for July, as well as solid chain-store sales reported for August, points to some strengthening in the retail industry of late and potentially a further pick-up in retail hiring ahead."
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, hires, 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 Retail Labor Index release dates; the Retail Labor Index methodology; and downloadable graphics.
- Note to reporters: cite findings as “Kronos Retail Labor Index”.
- About Macroeconomic Advisers, LLC
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.
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Contact
Laura Souza
Kronos Incorporated
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laura.souza@kronos.com