Job Pool

My states’ extremely low unemployment rate has a large effect on the applicant pool for retail jobs. It hovers around 2.8%, which is quite low compared to the 4.4% unemployment rate of the entire country. My store has quite a large list of employees but it can be difficult to find employees who want to show up and actually work.

(Photo from: http://infographic.statista.com/normal/chartoftheday_8974_us_unemployment_rate_n.jpg)

The other day an older woman came into our store and said, “Do any adults work here, I need to talk to an adult”. She was very upset that only “kids” were working. Some associates who are working part time and attending college, like myself, consider ourselves adults (as scary as that is), but not too many 30-45 year olds work at the shopping center.

The applicant pool for our store consists of retired women, high school students, and a few college students. They are also mostly women. So, yes technically we have a few adults, but more “kids” or students.

The low unemployment rate may have a large influence on skill sets or the quality of work of employees can provide. Could this push shoppers to resort to online shopping rather than going to an actual store?