Future of Retail Workforce Study

2022 proved to be an ever-changing and increasingly complex environment for retailers with inflation and supply chain challenges, fears of a looming recession and persisting labor market challenges. Even as the labor market has begun to stabilize since the peak of the “Great Resignation” in April 2022, the demand for talent continues to be a key priority for many retailers.

In October 2022, Lotis Blue Consulting, in partnership with the National Retail Federation, launched a second round of research into the U.S. retail labor market to answer the following questions:

• How has the current macro-economic environment influenced retention trends for the retail workforce?
• Which factors are becoming more important to employee retention and loyalty?
• How are the reasons for leaving a job changing over time?
• What are the primary attractors of unionization in the retail industry?