Mitigating Retail Labor Woes This Holiday Season

Last week, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its analysis of the labor market and found that despite an average of 582,000 jobs being added each month for the past three months, the number of openings remains at around 10 million. The BLS said 4.4 million people left their jobs in September — a record number. As the holiday shopping season gains steam, the National Retail Federation expects retailers to hire more than 500,000 workers — most will be part-time positions. Recent data from Adzuna, the global job search engine, revealed that part-time jobs “have increased by 31.4 percent over the last four weeks as holiday hiring kicked into gear,” the company said. Chris Matichuk, general manager of StoreForce, and a retail industry veteran with over three decades of experience told WWD that the response by retailers during the labor shortage has been a “blanket approach” where companies simply throw more money at the workforce. “They’re raising hourly rates and in some cases, raising salaries,” Matichuk said. “But that doesn’t address the fundamental problem at hand.” The issue, especially with Gen Z and younger Millennials working at retail, is that workers are not feeling valued. It transcends a paycheck, Matichuk said, noting that

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