Q3 2024 | Hourly Work Index 🕓
United States
The "Hourly Work Index" by Deputy provides a detailed look into the state of hourly work across various industries in the United States. Deputy's unique data on timesheets, hours worked, average shift lengths, and other relevant metrics provides real-time insights on the jobs market, the economy, industry challenges, business confidence, and trends impacting demographics within the shift / hourly worker community.
Healthcare 🧑⚕️
Avg Shifts worked | QoQ Shifts Worked | Avg Hours worked | QoQ Hours Worked | Average Shift Length |
9.59 🔽 | -2.09% 🔽 | 78.55 🔽 | -1.11% 🔽 | 🔼 7.73 |
New Hires | Employee Turnover | Predictable Scheduling | Average Shift-pay | Average Hourly Pay |
-8.90% 🔽 | 🔼 2.54% | 🔼 34.88 | 🔼 $146.61 | 🔼 $20.07 |
Hospitality 🧑🍳
Avg Shifts worked | QoQ Shifts Worked | Avg Hours worked | QoQ Hours Worked | Average Shift Length |
🔼 25.18 | 🔼 5.87% | 🔼 144.54 | 🔼 5.17% | 6.47 🔽 |
New Hires | Employee Turnover | Predictable Scheduling | Average Shift-pay | Average Hourly Pay |
-10.66% 🔽 | 🔼 28.34% | 🔼 16.46 | $77.84 🔽 | 🔼 $15.80 |
Retail 🧑💻
Avg Shifts worked | QoQ Shifts Worked | Avg Hours worked | QoQ Hours Worked | Average Shift Length |
🔼 11.08 | 🔼 0.44% | 86.39 🔽 | 🔼 1.22% | 🔼 7.2 |
New Hires | Employee Turnover | Predictable Scheduling | Average Shift-pay | Average Hourly Pay |
-6.87% 🔽 | 🔼 17.37% | 🔼 18.47 | 🔼 $121.28 | 🔼 $17.45 |
Services 🧑🔧
Avg Shifts worked | QoQ Shifts Worked | Avg Hours worked | QoQ Hours Worked | Average Shift Length |
19.12 🔽 | -0.44% 🔽 | 🔼 138.03 | 🔼 1.15% | 🔼 7.36 |
New Hires | Employee Turnover | Predictable Scheduling | Average Shift-pay | Average Hourly Pay |
-3.39% 🔽 | 🔼 6.83% | 🔼 22.02 | 🔼 $124.96 | $17.64 🔽 |
Quarter-on-Quarter Changes Across the board, new hires were down and turnover was up — with hospitality seeing a 28% jump in employee turnover in Q3 compared to Q2. Retail also showed a significant increase in turnover with 17% more turnover in Q3 than Q2. Despite turnover increasing across all sectors, Q3 stayed fairly consistent for hours worked, with <6% +/- changes in QoQ shifts and hours worked. Services workers saw a drop in average hourly pay in Q3, but made up for it with more hours worked and longer average shifts. The length of the average shift for hospitality workers in Q3 dropped, and despite an increase in average hourly pay, their average shift pay was still lower than Q2. |
Generational Insights Healthcare In healthcare, Boomers’ shift swap requests were approved at the lowest rate among the generations, with only 45% of their requests approved in Q3. This was a significant drop from Q2 when Boomers in healthcare had a 53% rate of swap approvals. Gen X, on the other hand, has seen an increase in approvals in Q3 compared to Q2, seeing 48% of requests approved in Q3 (compared to 45% approved in Q2). Millennials in healthcare saw the highest rates of swap approvals in Q3, being approved for 51% of requested swaps. This was up from 49% approval in Q2. Hospitality In hospitality, Gen Z workers are leaving the industry at higher rates than their older counterparts, with the number of Gen Z employees turned over in Q3 increasing by a third (36%) compared to Q. But Boomers were hit hardest in the industry in terms of new hires, the generation saw a 63% drop Quarter over Quarter in new hires in hospitality. Retail Retail, on the other hand, saw an increase in Gen Z new hires to the sector — a 5% increase in new hires compared to Q2. This was the only industry sector where new hires of Gen Z workers increased in Q3. Services Compared to Q2, Gen Z workers in services left their roles at a 35% higher rate in Q3. And there was a 19% decrease in new hires of Gen Z in this sector. Boomers, on the other hand, were the only generation to actually increase the rate of new hires in services in Q3 compared to Q2 (2% increase). |
Sector-Specific Insights Healthcare Gearing up for a particularly gnarly Cold & Flu Season, healthcare professionals administering flu shots and COVID boosters are particularly top of mind. But in September 2024, U.S. hourly workers at doctors & medical offices in California earned an average of $21.87/hr — less than what workers in bars earned the same month ($22.85/hr). So the Californians pouring (alcoholic) shots are making more than those administering (vaccine) shots. Hospitality Hospitality saw the biggest drop in both new hires and employee turnover in Q3. Turnover increased in the sector compared to the previous quarter by a whopping 28% and new hires decreased by 11%. And, with hospitality workers working 5% more hours in Q3 compared to Q2 (a ~36 hour workweek, on average in Q3), and holiday travel coming up, this industry may experience some friction. But for hospitality workers in Q3, they actually left more shifts feeling “amazing” than they did in either Q1 or Q2. And while California bar workers are earning more than workers in doctors and medical offices, their level of satisfaction has decreased dramatically over the year. Bar workers in Q3 experienced nearly 10% of their shifts that left them either stressed or frustrated — up from 4% of shifts in Q2 and 3% of shifts in Q1. Retail Retail saw the second largest drop in new hires and employee turnover in Q3. Turnover increased in retail by 17% and new hires dropped by 7% compared to the previous quarter. We hope to see these numbers swing back as we get into the holiday shopping season and retail comes particularly busy. Services Services represented the only industry in Q3 to have decreasing wages, with services workers earning $17.64/hr on average. Despite the drop, services workers had more shifts in Q3 that left them feeling amazing than in Q2 at 46% of their shifts worked — compared to 45% in Q2 and 40% in Q1. Within the broader industry, critical and emergency services workers averaged a 54 hour work week in Q3, clocking an average shift length of nearly 10 hours. |
Economic/Social Impact
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Quote/Commentary
“As we head into the busy holiday season, we're seeing hiring rates decline and turnover rising across industries, particularly in hospitality and retail. This shift could leave many workers feeling stretched thin as companies work to meet holiday demand. Employers can prepare by proactively planning around common seasonal stressors – like the need for shift swaps as employees manage family commitments – and communicating early and often with their teams to create a more supportive, flexible workplace during the busiest period of the year.”
About Deputy
Deputy is the global people platform for hourly work. Its intuitive software strengthens employer-employee connections, streamlines compliance obligations, and revolutionizes how hourly workers and businesses operate together, creating thriving workplaces.
Over 330,000 workplaces use Deputy to create better work-life experiences for 1.4 million scheduled workers globally. Visit Deputy, or find us on Twitter, Facebook, the App Store, or Google Play for more information.
The Data
The “Hourly Work Index” is produced by Deputy, the global people platform for hourly work, utilizing anonymized and aggregated Deputy customer and user data. This data has been normalized to account for seasonality and demand of workforce fluctuations throughout the week (e.g. weekday vs. weekends).
7.86 million shifts and 55.69 million hours from 298,220 hourly workers in the United States were analyzed to create this report.
