Companies that were hit hardest by the Coronavirus pandemic include consumer-facing companies like retailers, hospitality, and entertainment venues. All have cut hiring, some completely. This, combined with record unemployment numbers, will spell a slow crawl out of abnormalcy as we wait to get back to business.
The hardest-hit sector includes consumer-facing companies that rely on free movement, congregation, and foot traffic. Some examples:
- United Airlines reduced its job listings from 160 openings at the beginning of March to near zero.
- Entertainment brokers like SeatGeek have cut hiring by 76%.
- The entire cruise industry — is at a complete standstill. At Royal Caribbean, job listings fell by 73%. Meanwhile, prices for future cruises are tumbling as would-be travelers wait things out.
- Department store giant Nordstrom has reduced openings by 72% as stores remain closed. Macy's and Gap have done the same, the latter by as much as 82%.
- Western Union has cut openings by at least 70%, noting on its careers site that it was pausing all hiring efforts.
The index chart below includes 250 consumer-facing companies and how each has cut back on hiring in the past month, ranked by percentage.
Quick note: Sometimes, companies move their job listings from one HR platform to another. This can result in sudden drops in metrics. We've checked the data here, but some anomalies may remain.
We'll continue to keep an eye on things.
About the Data:
Thinknum tracks companies using the information they post online - jobs, social and web traffic, product sales and app ratings - and creates data sets that measure factors like hiring, revenue and foot traffic. Data sets may not be fully comprehensive (they only account for what is available on the web), but they can be used to gauge performance factors like staffing and sales.
Further Reading:
- This is what it looks like when United Airlines slashes job openings
- Carnival Cruises is finally cutting prices
- Nordstrom, Macy's, and Gap slash job postings - here's how much
