Kronos Retail Labor Index(TM) Indicates Signs of Recovery in U.S. Retail Hiring
New Index Shows Retail Hiring Up 9 Percent from Three-Year Low in January 2009
CHELMSFORD, Mass. (September 08, 2009) –
Kronos® Incorporated today unveiled the first installment of the Kronos Retail Labor Index(TM), 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. The Kronos Retail Labor Index provides a distinct and early indicator of the overall state of the retail sector. The report will be available on a monthly basis. The September report, a schedule of upcoming Index release dates, the methodology, and downloadable graphics are available on the Kronos Retail Labor Index website.
News Facts
* There are four related measures of interest in the report:
* 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. For example, a rate of 2.75 percent means that per 100 job applications received, 2.75 of them resulted in a hire.
o The Kronos Retail Labor Index decreased fairly steadily from 7.1 percent in October 2006 to a three-year low of 2.75 percent in January 2009.
o Between January and July 2009, the Kronos Retail Labor Index increased slightly to 2.99 percent, a relative improvement of 4 percent from 2.88 percent in June.
o The figure of 2.99 percent represents a 9-percent increase in the job application to hiring ratio relative to the lowest recorded level of 2.75 percent in January 2009. While showing a small but steady improvement over the last six months, the July number is significantly below the three-year high of 7.1 percent recorded in October 2006.
* Retail Applications Level: During the first seven months of 2009, the 68 retailers who make up the Kronos sample received 8.9 million job applications, a 12 percent increase over the same period in 2008 and a 33 percent increase over the same period in 2007.
* Retail Hiring Level: Of the 15 million applications received by these retailers during the last 12 months (August 2008 through July 2009), 529,000 resulted in hires. This represents a 28 percent reduction in hirings compared to the prior 12 months (August 2007 through July 2008).
* Retail Employee Retention Rate: Consistently declining rates of retention on a year-over-year basis between late-2006 and mid-2007 have been followed by a steady and much larger increase in retention in 2008 and 2009.
Supporting Quotes
* Dr. Robert Yerex, Ph.D., chief economist, Kronos
“It was encouraging to see the Kronos Retail Labor Index increase to 2.99 percent in July – up 4 percent from June. We believe this stabilization and tentative recovery in the Index signals the beginning of stabilization in the overall U.S. economy and will be reflected in other measures of the economy in the coming months.”
* Aron Ain, chief executive officer, Kronos
“In the past, bits and pieces of information about the hiring climate were available from various sources, but never in a comprehensive way. The Kronos Retail Labor Index is derived from one unified data set and is based on actual hiring transactions, as opposed to surveys about transactions. Our hiring solution processed more than 23 million applications in 2008. This volume of data combined with our expertise in analytics and economics enables Kronos to analyze hiring-related trends in the retail sector in a way that no one else can.”
* Dr. John Gallup, assistant professor of economics, Portland State University
“Economists, among many other groups of people, are always looking for new leading economic indicators. Analysis of the past several years has shown that the Kronos Retail Labor Index has consistently foreshadowed changes that revealed themselves in other indicators weeks or months later. Given this history, I believe the Kronos Retail Labor Index could be an important leading economic indicator for the retail sector moving forward.”
* Lisa Rowan, program director, HR, learning and talent strategies, IDC
“The time is right for a seasoned entity in retail hiring to launch an index like the Kronos Retail Labor Index, given the current state of the economy and the increasing interest in trying to find better predictors of what will happen. This is a very interesting way to use data in its aggregate form to provide the public-at-large with a useful and meaningful new measure of the economy.”
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 will be 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.
* To listen to an Audio News Release about the Kronos Retail Labor Index go to: http://www.kronos.com/Audio/KRONOS-W2.mp3
* 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.
© 2009 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.
Source: Kronos