The Indeed Hiring Lab tracks Retail employment trends, analyzing the latest Indeed and Bureau of Labor Statistics data. We look at overall Retail employment trends and dive deeper into Indeed job-posting trends and various Retail occupational categories. 

Takeaways 

  • Employer demand for workers continues to decline, with job postings down 14.8% from mid-January, 2023. 
  • Postings in Retail-related categories have fallen year-over-year, with Hospitality & Tourism postings now below their pre-pandemic level. 
  • Wage growth has receded from the highs reached during the pandemic recovery. 

Indeed job postings 

While employer demand for workers overall is still elevated compared to pre-pandemic norms, the market has cooled over the past year. The Indeed Job Postings Index (JPI) stood at 124 on Jan. 12, meaning total postings were still 24% above their level from Feb. 1, 2020. Postings were down 14.8% year-over-year, though the pace of the annual decline slowed notably in the second half of 2023. The JPI fell by 20 index points in the first six months of the year (from 148 to 128), but by only 4 points in the second half of the year.

Line graph showing the increase of Indeed job postings from their pre-pandemic baseline. US job postings have fallen 14.8% since January 12, 2023.
Line graph showing the increase of Indeed job postings from their pre-pandemic baseline. US job postings have fallen 14.8% since January 12, 2023.

Retail job postings 

Most segments of the Retail sector are trending largely in line with the overall labor market slowdown — down over the year, but still comfortably above pre-pandemic levels — with one notable exception. Food Preparation & Service and Retail postings, for example, continued to slowly edge down through the last quarter, down 10.7% and 11.7% from January 12, 2023, respectively. Postings for Hospitality & Tourism jobs, however, were down 22.6% over the past year as of Jan. 12, and are now 6% below their pre-pandemic baseline. 

Line chart showing job postings in Retail, Hospitality & Tourism, and Food Preparation & Service to January 12, 2024. Hospitality & Tourism job postings have now dipped below their pre-pandemic level. 
Line chart showing job postings in Retail, Hospitality & Tourism, and Food Preparation & Service to January 12, 2024. Hospitality & Tourism job postings have now dipped below their pre-pandemic level. 

Wage growth

The difficult supply and demand dynamics that marked the past few years and helped push wage growth so high have continued to ease, and annual wage growth has slowed notably. According to the Indeed Wage Tracker, year-over-year growth in advertised wages in the Retail and Food Preparation & Service categories in December 2023 clocked in at 3.4% and 3.6%, respectively, about even with their pre-pandemic levels. 

Line graph titled “Wage growth has returned to pre-pandemic levels.” This chart has a vertical axis ranging from 0 to 15%, with dates on the horizontal axis. Different colored lines represent wage growth for Food Preparation & Service and Retail. 
Line graph titled “Wage growth has returned to pre-pandemic levels.” This chart has a vertical axis ranging from 0 to 15%, with dates on the horizontal axis. Different colored lines represent wage growth for Food Preparation & Service and Retail. 

For more labor market insights from the Indeed Hiring Lab, follow along on our blog at hiringlab.org.