CHELMSFORD, Mass. (October 07, 2009) – Kronos® Incorporated today announced the October release 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, and provide a distinct and early indicator of the overall state of the retail sector. The October release includes data through the end of August 2009. The October report is available on the Kronos Retail Labor Index website.
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.) The Kronos Retail Labor Index increased slightly in August to 3.00 percent, up from 2.99 percent in July. This is the highest the Index has been since December of 2008. A level of 3.00 percent means that for every 100 applications received, three hirings occurred.
* Retail Hiring Level: The 68 retailers, representing 27,034 distributed locations across the U.S., who make up the Kronos data sample, recorded 42,861 hirings in August 2009. This is an increase of 2.8 percent from July, and represents the eighth straight monthly increase in the hiring rate.
* Retail Applications Level: The supply of applications increased as well, by 2.1 percent from July, to 1,433,508, representing the eighth straight monthly increase in the application rate.
* Retail Employee Retention Rate: Continuing the trend of increased employee retention, the 60-day retention rate for August 2009 was 4.2 percent higher than it was in August of 2008; however the rate of increase slowed in August for the first time since January 2008.

Supporting Quotes

* Dr. Robert Yerex, Ph.D., chief economist, Kronos
“It was encouraging to see the Kronos Retail Labor Index increase to 3.00 percent in August – up 0.33 percent relative to July. We believe this continued 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 shows great potential for being a leading economic indicator. Recent results from the University of Michigan’s Consumer Sentiment Index and the U.S. Department of Commerce’s report on retail and food services sales levels mirror the changes that the Kronos Retail Labor Index foreshadowed.”

Source: Kronos