October retail hiring lowest in six years
Retail hiring took a dip in the month leading up to the holiday shopping season.
The sector added 136,700 jobs, which is down 8% from last year and the lowest October gain since 2011, according to an analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data by global outplacement and executive coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. It’s the second year of declines and comes as fewer major retailers announced large-scale hiring plans.
“The shrinking job gains in retail during the holiday season are indicative of the changing consumer habits and overall transition the industry is experiencing,” said John Challenger, CEO of Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
Overall, seasonal retail hiring has fallen each year since 2013, according to the firm. Last year, October gains reached 149,400, 18.5% lower than 2015.
As of October, there were nearly six million (15,827,700 Americans employed in the retail sector, which is 56,600 fewer jobs than the 15,884,300 employed in October 2016, according to non-seasonally adjusted data from the BLS.
Meanwhile, employment in the transportation and warehousing sectors stood at 5,151,400 in October of this year, 111,400 more jobs than in October 2016.
“The ‘Amazon Effect’ and consumers’ online shopping habits are definitely shifting seasonal job gains from traditional retailers to warehousing and transportation positions," said Challenger. "New technology in retail also eliminates the need for some back-office operations, which may lead to less hiring.
However, this new technology may change the nature of the work as opposed to replacing workers altogether.
"For instance, Walmart instituted shelf-scanning robots in their stores that flag issues for human workers to fix,” added Challenger.
The sector added 136,700 jobs, which is down 8% from last year and the lowest October gain since 2011, according to an analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data by global outplacement and executive coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. It’s the second year of declines and comes as fewer major retailers announced large-scale hiring plans.
“The shrinking job gains in retail during the holiday season are indicative of the changing consumer habits and overall transition the industry is experiencing,” said John Challenger, CEO of Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
Overall, seasonal retail hiring has fallen each year since 2013, according to the firm. Last year, October gains reached 149,400, 18.5% lower than 2015.
As of October, there were nearly six million (15,827,700 Americans employed in the retail sector, which is 56,600 fewer jobs than the 15,884,300 employed in October 2016, according to non-seasonally adjusted data from the BLS.
Meanwhile, employment in the transportation and warehousing sectors stood at 5,151,400 in October of this year, 111,400 more jobs than in October 2016.
“The ‘Amazon Effect’ and consumers’ online shopping habits are definitely shifting seasonal job gains from traditional retailers to warehousing and transportation positions," said Challenger. "New technology in retail also eliminates the need for some back-office operations, which may lead to less hiring.
However, this new technology may change the nature of the work as opposed to replacing workers altogether.
"For instance, Walmart instituted shelf-scanning robots in their stores that flag issues for human workers to fix,” added Challenger.