Walgreens Minimum Hourly Wage To Increase to $15 in October

US retailers struggle to scrape up workers to fill more than 1.1 million vacancies in preparations for the upcoming holiday season.

In a world where companies are rapidly building their presence on eCommerce platforms, the market of brick-and-mortar dollar stores is still booming.

Simon Property Group and NorthPark Center are stepping in to help stores fill open job positions as COVID-19 restrictions loosen up, and shoppers start heading back to malls in Dallas, Texas. With the economy slowly opening up, shopping centers are chipping in to assist their tenants in finding workers by holding job fairs and posting consolidated lists of available positions on dedicated landing pages, mobile apps, and social media accounts. Simon Property Group, the largest mall operator in the United States, has been organizing virtual job fairs since the global health crisis hit as a courtesy to its tenants. The shopping mall owner has a consolidated list of hundreds of employment opportunities available nationwide. The list can be found on Simon’s website and is searchable by the retailer, state, and shopping center. Dallas’ NorthPark Center is also promoting job opportunities at the mall on its website and via other digital channels. With positions available at about 80 stores, there’s plenty of choice for job seekers. Despite these recent efforts, the US still has about 400,000 fewer jobs in retail compared to the prepandemic data. However, based on the most recent State Employment and Unemployment Summary report, the unemployment rate in Texas was 6.7% in April this year, which is nearly a half down from the state’s record-high joblessness rate of 12.9% in April 2020. While the Texas retail employment rates have almost recovered to pre-COVID levels - approximately 1,322,500 Texans were employed in retail in April in comparison with 1,324,500 in February 2020 - more than 50% of business owners in this sector say that they’re still recruiting. That’s especially good news for high school and college students who may seek out many of the retail job opportunities. There’s been a significant increase in mall traffic as more people are getting vaccinated against COVID-19. According to March data provided by Placer.ai, foot traffic in US malls went up by 86% compared with the same month last year. Although this is still below March 2019 numbers, there’s an upwards trend and people are not only browsing but also spending more.