Paychex Small Business Snapshot: Retail Trade Hiring Is Up at the Outset of the Holiday Season
Business owners, specifically those operating in the retail trade, typically experience an uptick in business around the holiday season and this year is no exception. Many of those businesses hire additional employees to handle the holiday rush, and hiring data indicates employment growth in the retail trade sector is gaining steam at the outset of this holiday season. Paychex, Inc., a leading provider of payroll, human resource, insurance, and benefits outsourcing solutions for small- to medium-sized businesses, today released these results as part of its latest Paychex Small Business Snapshot.
Retail trade data from the Paychex | IHS Small Business Jobs Index reveals the rate of employment growth in this sector increased 0.24% from October 2015 to November 2015, the best one-month growth rate since the sector’s index peaked in April 2014. While this represents a notable month-over-month lift, year-over-year, employment growth in the retail trade sector is down 0.12 percent.
“While it’s still a bit early in the season to paint a full picture and measure the results of the holiday hiring season, November’s one-month growth rate change is certainly promising for the retail industry,” says Paychex president and CEO Martin Mucci.
According to Paychex data, the rate of employment growth during the holiday months of November, December, and January was up for a fourth consecutive year in 2014 across all industry sectors, but has not yet returned to pre-recession levels. The data also shows 2007 as the peak for holiday hiring over the last decade and the only year in which holiday hiring outpaced hiring during the rest of the year.
While many retail trade businesses around the U.S. bulk up on sales and service associates during the holiday season, certain areas of the country have outpaced others. From 2012-2014, Miami led metropolitan areas with a 0.83% higher holiday hiring growth rate.
Learn more about the Paychex | IHS Small Business Jobs Index.
Paychex Small Business Snapshot: Holiday Hiring from Paychex
About the Paychex Small Business Snapshot The data included in the Paychex Small Business Snapshot was sourced from the Paychex | IHS Small Business Jobs Index. Paychex data scientists looked exclusively at the Retail Trade industry, a sub-sector of the index’s Trade, Transportation, and Utilities industry category. The Paychex | IHS Small Business Jobs Index measures the change in small business employment in the United States. It analyzes year-over-year worker count changes, trending the results to reveal movement in small business employment. An upward trend represents a strengthening job market, while a downward trend is a sign of a slowdown. For more information you can read a full description of the methodology. Also,a list of frequently asked questions is available.