Kronos' New Retail Labor Index Says Hires Are Up Since January

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Workforce management firm Kronos Inc. reported Tuesday that U.S. discount, grocery and restaurant chains are hiring more job applicants today that they were seven months ago, an indicator that the economy might be improving.

In the first release of its new monthly retail labor index, Kronos reported that 2.99 of every 100 applications resulted in a hire, compared with a three year low of 2.75 out of every 100 in January. The company analyzed 8.9 million job applications received by 68 retailers from January to July in order to gather the data.

Though the percentage of hires might be up, the hiring of cashiers, stockers and other frontline workers was less than half of the hiring rate in October 2006 (7.1 percent), when retail hiring reached a three-year high and U.S. unemployment was at the three-year low, according to Kronos.

The software company reported that from August 2008 to July 2009, 15 million applications to retailers resulted in 529,000 hires, a 28 percent reduction in hires from the period of August 2007 to July 2008.

Kronos, based in Massachusetts, makes software that businesses use to process hiring, payroll and scheduling and manage employees. It developed its retail labor index in order to "provide a distinct and early indicator of the health of the economic sector."

The labor index will be released monthly on a pre-announced schedule, according to the Kronos website. The next scheduled release date for the index in October 7.

Workforce management firm Kronos Inc. reported Tuesday that U.S. discount, grocery and restaurant chains are hiring more job applicants today that they were seven months ago, an indicator that the economy might be improving. In the first release of its new monthly retail labor index, Kronos reported that 2.99 of every 100 applications resulted in a hire, compared with a three year low of 2.75 out of every 100 in January. (Market News Provided by RTTNews)