Kronos® Incorporated announced the July 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 July report includes data for June 2010.

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 3.00 percent means that for every 100 applications received, three hirings occurred). The Kronos Retail Labor Index decreased to 3.47 this month, down 7.85 percent (on a relative basis) from 3.80 in June.

- Retail Hiring Level: The retailers representing 27,034 distributed locations across the U.S. that make up the Kronos data sample recorded 58,231 hirings (on a seasonally adjusted basis) in June 2010, an increase of 18.97 percent from the May 2010 seasonally adjusted figure of 46,902. This also represented a significant increase of 30.44 percent from the 40,508 hirings that occurred in June 2009.

- Retail Applications Level: The supply of applications increased to an even greater degree than hirings, up 35 percent, to a seasonally adjusted level of 1,671,839 in June. The June 2010 figure represented a 14.70 percent increase compared with the 1,426,051 applications processed in June 2009.

- Retail Employee Retention Rate: Employee retention increased again in June 2010 as compared with June 2009; employees were 3.42 percent more likely to have a length of service of 60 days or more. This is smaller than the increase seen between April 2010 and April 2009, but slightly larger than that between May 2010 and May 2009.

Supporting Quotes

- Dr. Robert Yerex, chief economist, Kronos
“The number of hirings that occurred in June increased 18.97 percent over the previous month and 30.44 percent over the same month last year, which is positive news for job seekers. However, June’s increase in hiring was smaller than the increase in applications received, driving the Kronos Retail Labor Index down again this month.”

“Retail spending continues to be dampened by high unemployment, a trend by consumers to reduce revolving credit and increase savings, as well as continued decreases in asset values, especially home equity. The end of emergency Federal unemployment benefits is likely to put additional downward pressure on consumer spending in the coming months as this will withdraw as much as $3.2 billion a month from the retail economy.”