Ingo Winzer, President
Local Market Monitor
If
the number of jobs in retail, instead of increasing 2 percent a year, will
slowly erode from now on, is this a bad thing for the economy? Retail sales
seem to be doing fine, its just taking fewer people to produce those results.
From
an economic perspective, any efficiency is a good thing. But looking at the
larger picture, the 300,000 jobs with annual pay of $30,000 that AREN'T being
created every year are a blow to families for whom this is often a second income.
Aside from restaurants and hotels, retail is the lowest-paying sector in the
economy and the last possibility for people with no special skills. The $9
billion of retail salaries saved each year will go into somebody's pocket, but
the social consequences of yet another disappearing opportunity near the bottom
of the ladder may end up being a lot greater than that.
Overall,
the number of jobs in July was up 1.5 percent from last year, in line with
results so far this year. Jobs were flat in manufacturing, retail and
government - which together make up a third of all jobs - up 2 percent in
finance, 3 percent in business services, 2 percent in healthcare, and 3 percent
at restaurants. In the construction sector jobs were up 3 percent, which seems
like a lot but, starting from such a low level, it's nothing to write home
about.
