First Advantage Corporation, a global risk mitigation and business solutions provider, announced the release of its first Screening Benchmark Report for the Retail Industry. The report provides employers in the retail industry with an overview of the employment screening results for the first three quarters of 2009 for many of the nation's top retailers, and serves as a potentially insightful tool to assist retail employers in the evaluation of their own employment screening programs.

With more than 15.3 million jobs in 2008, and expectations of an increase to more than 16 million by 2018, the retail industry is the one of the nation's largest employment sectors, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and a significant market for First Advantage.

"Since retailers experience above average employee turnover and seasonal hiring patterns in an industry that must proactively manage the risks associated with loss prevention, a screening program to identify potential threats is critical," said Paige Vesuvio, vice president of marketing for First Advantage. "At a time when companies continue to tighten their belts, the report offers both large and small retailers the opportunity to evaluate their current employment screening practices against their industry peers and identify steps to improve their programs."

Among the key findings of the report:

- Social Security Number discrepancies rose slightly in 2009 to 0.79 percent, up from 0.44 percent in 2008. Such discrepancies are due to employment applicants providing inaccurate - and, in some cases, falsified - Social Security numbers.

- The industry experienced a 1.89 percent decline in discrepancies for county criminal searches. Discrepancies, in this case, may be due to employment applicants not revealing or inaccurately relaying their criminal history as recorded in county court records.

- Credit report hits increased during 2009 to 16.07 percent, as compared with 9.08 percent during 2008. This increase may be attributed to credit-related challenges being faced by individuals as the economy continues to struggle.

- Discrepancies with education verifications decreased from 23.5 percent in 2008 to 16.38 percent during the first nine months of 2009. Education discrepancies may be the result of an applicant misrepresenting their education or not correctly supplying dates of attendance, status and or degree earned.

- The rate of positive results for all types of substance abuse screening tests was 2.5 percent for the retail industry, lower than the overall national average of 3.6 percent.