Store job cuts could deepen through 2010

Source: Cnnmoney.com

Analyst says as many as 600,000 more retail jobs could be lost as consumers cut back for good.

July 17, 2009: 12:53 PM ET


NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Retail layoffs could accelerate with a vengeance over the next year as the industry struggles with a newfound frugality among Americans, continuing weakness in the housing market and thousands of auto dealerships slated to close.

"Just as the manufacturing sector has been shedding jobs for many years even as jobs in other sectors have been added, we could see the same thing occur in the retail sector as the frugal future facing the U.S. consumer keeps consumption growth below trend," according to a report this week from Bank of America-Merrill Lynch.

Year-over-year, the industry, which is the third biggest employer after the government and the services sector, has already lost more than 600,000 jobs. And 11% of all jobs lost so far in this recession have been retail related, according to the Labor Department.

While the best case scenario is an estimated 150,000 more store jobs shed over the next year, the report said "the potential exists for up to 600,000 additional retail jobs to be at risk."



Read more: http://money.cnn.com/2009/07/17/news/economy/retail_job_losses/?postversion=2009071712

It's a small slot that usually fills in three months or so. Forces me to file them away now and then.

We are in our seventh month of the year and it's only about two thirds full.

Yep. We're not spending.

Which makes the downturn that much more severe.

Plus, the baby boomers are moving into retirement over then next decade. Both their needs and their purchasing power will be way down.

I worked in retail for most of my life and I can tell you, it's like living from paycheck to paycheck. Even in the good old days when I could get 40 hours -- which is a near impossibility nowadays -- I was still completely broke all the time. As soon as that paycheck stops coming, you're down to nothing real quick.

Case in point, I have a friend who got launched a few weeks ago. Her former boss challenged her unemployment, it got cut off, and last week she was begging people on facebook to buy all her possessions so she could pay her rent.

600,000 people added to all the rest already out there looking for work that doesn't exist is a recipe for disaster. These mo fo's in congress need to get off their asses and do something to help all these folks NOW, or there's a bigtime shit storm coming down the pike in the not too distant future.

Ordinary folks are drowning, and no one in charge seems to feel an urgency at all.