Retailers add 15,200 jobs in September – NRF

NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay said, “It’s clear that retailers’ concerns surrounding the softening economy impacted their decisions to take on more hires, but overall, retail continues to play an integral role in the growth of our labor market. 

“While still cautiously optimistic about expectations for a solid fourth quarter, retail companies looking to hire seasonal positions in October and November need to first see evidence that our policy leaders will take a more constructive approach to the second round of discussions about our country’s fiscal health. Otherwise retailers will see continued erosion in consumer confidence as we witnessed with talks surrounding the government shutdown”.

“The pace of growth in retail hires has slowed, similar to what the rest of the labor market is experiencing,” said Chief Economist Jack Kleinhenz. “Americans need to believe we are on a solid path out of this troubled economy and so far, they haven’t been given any reason to believe that, thus impacting their spending decisions and retailers’ ability to increase their payrolls.”

The Bureau of Labor Statistics employment report showed that the economy added 148,000 jobs in September, which lowered the unemployment rate to 7.2 percent.

As the world’s largest retail trade association and the voice of retail worldwide, NRF represents retailers of all types and sizes, including chain restaurants and industry partners, from the United States and more than 45 countries abroad. Retailers operate more than 3.6 million U.S. establishments that support one in four U.S. jobs – 42 million working Americans. Contributing $2.5 trillion to annual GDP, retail is a daily barometer for the nation’s economy.

National Retail Federation