Report: Retail Hiring Hits Highest Levels Since 2008

BOSTON (CBS) - Retail hiring in September was the highest its been in three years, and up 16-percent over last year, according to a new report from Kronos Inc.

Kronos' Retail Labor Index report found that retail hiring in September was up 12.6 percent from 33,974 hires in August 2011.

Chelmsford-based Kronos also found that the number of applications received by retailers dropped by 1.7 percent to 985,915 in September.

"The recent sharp uptick in hiring, coupled with a rise in monthly applications since earlier this year, suggests that retail labor market activity is picking up," said Chris Varvares, senior managing director and co-founder of Macroeconomic Advisers LLC, which prepared the Kronos analysis, in a statement.

Lisa van der Pool of the Boston Business Journal reports