Employer and job candidate activity remained strong in March, including in the retail sector, according to the iCIMS Insights April 2024 Workforce Report. With slight upticks in applications and openings, slow and steady growth indicates signs of optimism on both sides of the hiring coin.
Among the iCIMS report’s specific findings for retail:
- Full-time jobs in retail are in demand. Applicants-per-opening for those roles spiked to 39, up 50% from a year ago. Part-time jobs in retail are receiving only 20 applications per opening, on average.
- Job openings in retail remained flat for the second month in a row but are 12% below January 2023 levels. However, retail employers aren’t hesitating to hire — hires jumped 10% from last month.
- Retail employers are seeing more candidates for open roles in the West (39) and Northeast (34) compared to the South (28) and Midwest (20).
- Transportation roles in retail are hot, with a 45% jump in applications in one year. Meanwhile, sales roles in retail are not in such high demand now, showing fewer applications than this time last year.
- “The labor market seems to have found its groove this year, with smaller changes in the peaks and valleys of hiring, job openings and applications,” said Rhea Moss, iCIMS’ Global Head of Workforce and Customer Insights.
Based on proprietary data from thousands of organizations that receive more than 200 million applications and hire more than 5.5 million people annually, the iCIMS Insights program is designed to help business and HR leaders better understand workforce trends to drive a competitive advantage.
Click here for more from the iCIMS report.