A recent study from MetLife revealed the alarming depth of
money worries among retail employees. Just 54% of these workers are
confident about their finances, with retail employees showing more stress than
those in IT (79%), construction (79%), manufacturing (68%)
and the public sector (63%). Retail workers rated personal finances as
their top source of stress in the 2019
Annual U.S. Employee Benefit Trends Study, and other findings fill in the grim
picture:
- 58% of retail workers live
paycheck to paycheck; - 50% reported having a
savings cushion of three months; and - 58% of retail workers
expect to postpone retirement due to their financial situation (compared to 52%
of all Americans surveyed).
The Retail TouchPoints editors discuss some of the
causes behind these high levels of financial insecurity, as well as the
potential for more stress if the U.S.-China trade war heats up further.
Adam Blair, Editor: It’s not exactly surprising that
retail workers feel precarious about their finances compared to employees in
other industries; after all, many retail jobs, particularly at the entry level,
are minimum wage positions. Stress about money for these people has more to do
with a national minimum wage (stuck at $7.25 per hour since July 2009)
that is alarmingly out of step with current living expenses. I realize it’s
cold comfort to retail workers that many others are in the same situation, but
the hard fact is that some of these financial insecurities will only be
mitigated when the country’s political leadership changes. What’s more
disturbing is that there’s a strong chance things will get worse before they
get better, particularly if the White House Occupant goes ahead with his
threatened 10% tariffs on Chinese-made goods. These are fortunately on hold for
now, but anyone watching the political scene over the past three years has
learned that the only thing we can count on is uncertainty. If retailers have
to raise prices and that slows down holiday spending, many of these employees
could go from minimum wage to no wage at all.
Glenn Taylor, Senior Editor: While the complete end
results of automation have yet to be determined, I wonder how much stress this
particular angle is putting on retail employees. Uncertainty about a job’s very
existence simply can’t be ignored, especially since it can actually affect the
performance of employees. Regardless of whether jobs actually end up being replaced,
or simply repurposed, I’m sure there are plenty of long-term retail
employees wondering how that affects their pay. In fact, 57% of
retail workers say that new technology would have a negative impact on
the quality of their jobs, such as reducing their wages, hours and benefits, according
to a survey at The
Fair Workweek Initiative. All these concerns undoubtedly make worse an
issue that most of these employees have — inconsistent and unpredictable
working hours.
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Bryan Wassel, Associate Editor: The combination of
generally low wages with international volatility is a bad one for retail
workers, and the feast-or-famine nature of retail work can only exacerbate the
problem. Associates can expect more hours (and therefore more pay) during the
holiday season, but during the slow times or an economic downturn they might
not be able to hit 40 hours a week. This scarcity is especially prevalent given
the number of venerable brands downsizing or shutting their doors; even if the
retail space as a whole is healthy, that doesn’t mean much for the people who
have been working jobs in malls for years, watching their companies shutter
hundreds of locations and lay off thousands of their colleagues. This is
another area where tariffs and trade wars may weigh on any sense of security,
because if prices go up and people in general buy less, the frontline of retail
workers will be among the first at risk of losing their jobs.
