Recruitment and Retention of the Frontline and Hourly Wage Worker: A Business Perspective

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Introduction

Throughout the country—communities both small and large—are in the midst of economic change. While traditional industries such as manufacturing continue to decline in many geographic areas, others, namely health care, retail, and hospitality, are growing rapidly—and are projected to continue growing for the foreseeable future. And while employment opportunities in these industries abound, these part-time and full-time hourly wage and frontline positions (e.g., medical assistants, food workers, cashiers) are staffed by employees whose family incomes fall within lower-income brackets. Among hourly (nonexempt) employees, 30% earn low wages (less than $10.00 per hour in 2006), and 28% live in low-income families (below 200% of the federal poverty threshold). With the right support, these workers will be productive, stable, and upwardly mobile, providing maximum benefit to employers.