Kronos Retail Labor Index shows dramatic increase in last-minute holiday hiring

Chelmsford, Mass. -- Kronos announced the December release of the Kronos Retail Labor Index, analyzing the relationship between the demand and supply sides of the labor market within the U.S. retail sector.



The December report, which includes data for November 2010, showed that the Index increased significantly to 3.8%, a 28% increase over last month’s figure of 3.0%. (A level of 3.0% means that for every 100 applications received, three hirings occurred.)



The retailers representing 27,034 distributed locations across the U.S. that make up the Kronos data sample recorded 56,028 hirings (on a seasonally adjusted basis) in November, a dramatic 77.5% increase over the October 2010 seasonally adjusted figure of 31,569. This was also a 9.8% increase over the 51,037 hirings that occurred in November 2009.



The supply of applications was also up significantly, reaching a seasonally adjusted level of 1,457,264 in November. The November figure represented a 38.4% increase over the 1,052,765 applications processed in October 2010.