As U.S. job growth hits the skids, a shrinking labor market means one thing for the nervous retail workers who reside in Columbus, Ohio: Their job is on shaky ground. The nation's labor market lost a much larger-than-expected 63,000 jobs last month. Retailing was hit hard, accounting for 34,000 job cuts across department stores, building supplies and garden equipment sellers and auto dealers. Indeed, big chain retailers including Macy's, Home Depot, Sears, and J.C Penney recently announced they were consolidating their operations and cutting jobs to curb costs in order to offset weakening sales. While this macro picture already looks disappointing, at a micro level, it gets even bleaker.
See "Jobs get tossed out of stores", Parija B. Kavilanz, CNN Money, March 9, 2008