Seasonally Adjusted Weekly Shift Growth Holds at 0.5% Into Labor Day

Kronos U.S. Workforce Activity Report Shows Seventh Straight Week of Sub-1% Seasonally Adjusted Shift Growth
September 9, 2020, LOWELL, Mass.

National Overview:

According to the U.S. Workforce Activity Report for Aug. 31-Sept. 6 from Kronos Incorporated – which will become UKG (Ultimate Kronos Group) on Oct. 1 following its merger with Ultimate Software – seasonally adjusted shift work1 volume held firm at 0.5% growth for the second consecutive week, marking the seventh straight week of sub-1% seasonally adjusted shift growth. Non-seasonally adjusted shift growth achieved 0.9%.

Growth Averages:   Seasonally adjusted average weekly shift growth by month:

  • May average weekly shift growth: 2.7%
  • June average weekly shift growth: 1.9%
  • July average weekly shift growth: 0.7%
  • average weekly shift growth: 0.5%
  • average weekly shift growth: 0.5% (as of Sept. 6)

Region Snapshot:

Shifts declined modestly in 25 states, including California, Georgia, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Washington, and Wisconsin. Overall, the Midwest2 increased shift volume 1.8%, followed by the Southwest3 at 0.6%. The Northeast4 increased 0.5% while the West5 held essentially flat, down 0.1%.

Industry Analysis:

The manufacturing industry backslid 2.4% and now sits at 11.5% below pre-pandemic shift volume. The services and distribution sector remains unchanged for a second straight week at 10.2% below normal shift levels. Retail, food service, and hospitality grew 0.9% week-over-week to reach 10.1% below typical shift activity. Healthcare must recover another 6.5% to reach pre-pandemic levels, while the education sector, which dropped nearly 75% during the shift to emergency remote learning in the spring, has returned to normal activity levels.

Commentary:

Dave Gilbertson, vice president, strategy and operations, Kronos
“U.S. businesses have only recovered about half of the jobs that were lost during the initial days of the pandemic. While last week’s August jobs report was positive, it also put the spotlight on the tremendous number of furloughed employees still slowly being called back to work. There is very little new job creation taking place and it will not begin until shift growth demonstrates significant, consistent levels.”

Timeliness:

The Kronos U.S. Workforce Activity Report provides high frequency data for employee shift trends and workplace activity current as of Sept. 6, 2020 for 3.2 million employees. For more insights about shiftwork trends, visit www.kronos.com/USWorkforceActivity.

Supporting Resources

About Kronos Incorporated

Kronos is a leading provider of workforce management and human capital management cloud solutions. Kronos industry-centric workforce applications are purpose-built for businesses, healthcare providers, educational institutions, and government agencies of all sizes. Tens of thousands of organizations — including half of the Fortune 1000® — and more than 40 million people in over 100 countries use Kronos every day. Kronos merged with Ultimate Software on April 1, 2020, to create one of the world’s most innovative HCM and workforce management companies. Visit www.kronos.com. Kronos: Workforce Innovation That Works.

About Ultimate Software

Ultimate Software is a leading global provider of cloud human capital management (HCM) and employee experience solutions, with more than 51 million people records in the cloud. Ultimate’s award-winning UltiPro delivers HR, payroll, talent, and time and labor management, as well as HR service delivery solutions. Founded in 1990, Ultimate is headquartered in Weston, Florida, and employs more than 6,000 professionals. To learn more, visit www.ultimatesoftware.com. Ultimate Software: People First.

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Footnote 1: “Shifts worked” is a total derived from aggregated employee time and attendance data and reflects the number of times that employees, especially those who are paid hourly or must be physically present at a workplace to perform their jobs, “clock in” and “clock out” via a time clock, mobile app, computer, or other device at the beginning and end of each shift.

Footnote 2: Midwest is defined as Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, and Wisconsin.

Footnote 3: Southeast is defined as Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.

Footnote 4: Northeast is defined as Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virginia.

Footnote 5: West is defined as Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.

© 2020 Kronos Incorporated and Ultimate Software. All rights reserved. Kronos and the Kronos logo are registered trademarks and Workforce Innovation That Works is a trademark of Kronos Incorporated or a related company. See a complete list of Kronos trademarks. UltiPro is a registered trademark of The Ultimate Software Group, Inc. All other trademarks, if any, are property of their respective owners.