Kronos Retail Labor Index Shows Signs of Recovery in U.S. Retail Hiring

Kronos Inc. has unveiled the first installment 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.

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.

- There are four related measures of interest in the report:

o 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.

+ 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.

+ 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.

+ 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.

o 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.

o 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).

o 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.

Dr. Robert Yerex, Ph.D., chief economist, Kronos, noted, "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."

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 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.

Kronos is a company providing workforce management solutions.

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