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U.S. Retailers Slash Headcounts In March: April 10, 2012

ByThe National Bank of Canada
Published 04/10/2012, 02:46 AM
Updated 05/14/2017, 06:45 AM

Labour markets disappointed in March with the BLS reporting the net creation of only 120,000 jobs, the worst showing in five months. Though most of the industries remained in hiring mode in March (59.6% reported adding to headcounts), there were nonetheless some disturbing developments in key cyclical industries. For the first time since August 2009, both the temporary help supply and retail industries lost jobs during the month.

For retailers, this was the second decline in as many months with general merchandise stores accounted for virtually all of these losses. These stores, who normally account for 20% of total retail employment, have shed a cumulative 83,000 workers in the last two months. This is unprecedented. This is much more than we would expect at this point in the economic cycle and all the more curious given that such stores reported peak employment of 3.14 million last January.

Under these circumstances, we prefer to wait another month before jumping to conclusions (perhaps seasonal factors were at play) but here is food for thought: since 2002 there are more people employed at retail stores than in manufacturing. The potential negative impact of a restructuring of retailers on overall employment trends should not be underestimated.
U.S Retailers slash headcounts in March

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