Bankruptcies, store closings weigh on retail employment

The retail industry had the second-highest number of cuts announced by U.S.-based employers in January.

That’s according to a report from global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, which said that technology companies led in announced job cuts in January, with 13,869 cuts, followed by retail, with 10,444 cuts. Of the retail job cuts, 2,631 were attributed to bankruptcy and 6,924 to store closings.  

Andrew Challenger, VP of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, noted that many large tech companies are cutting jobs as they pivot to new products or services and, in some cases, reduce bureaucracy and remove layers of management to become nimbler.

“Tech is not the only industry embarking on this kind of restructuring,” he added. Companies across all industries are reexamining their hierarchies, particularly in automotive and retail, where innovations in technology are changing the landscape.”

Below is Challenger, Gray & Christmas’ list of retail jobs cuts due to bankruptcy for the years 2001 through 2019.
 
Year    Cuts
2001    11,172
2002    2,075
2003    7,542
2004    9,297
2005    23,647
2006    545
2007    106
2008    26,218
2009    34,346
2010    375
2011    8,698
2012    253
2013    328
2014    5,555
2015    13,791
2016    9,187
2017    3,131
2018    30,412
2019    48,733