Right short-tailed-bird radical (Kangxi #172) — an 8-stroke pictograph of a perched bird. Carries the original sense: 雇 first named a migratory bird that arrived seasonally; from 'seasonal arrival' came 'temporary worker hired for a season,' then 'to hire' generally. Same radical in 集, 难, 雀.
Top-left phonetic 户 — supplies the sound (hù drifted to gù, a regular onset shift). Pictograph of a single-leaf door, the half of 門. Faintly semantic: hiring once meant bringing someone into the household. Same phonetic in 顾 and 扈.
