Retail Jobs Grow Significantly Over Past Year

By Christine Kern, contributing writer

Retail added 24,000 new jobs in February alone, despite weather and wage challenges.

February saw a boost of 24,000 new retail jobs, 218,000 more than February last year, according to a report by the National Retail Federation.

Among the areas showing strong gains were apparel, building materials, sporting goods, and home goods and furniture.

 “Payrolls came in much stronger than expected especially given the issues seen over the past several weeks with the west coast port delays and severe winter weather in the Northeast and Midwest," said NRF Chief Economist Jack Kleinhenz. "The strength in the February jobs report bodes well for the next few months in terms of expectations for retail sales and even more job growth in the industry. 

"As we approach spring there's good reason to believe that the optimism that we've seen thus far from businesses will continue, though wage growth remains a big question mark, potentially impacting how Americans will continue to spend their discretionary budgets." 

The U.S. Department of Labor today reported that there was a gain of 295,000 jobs in February, above expectations of 240,000. The unemployment rate fell to 5.5 percent from 5.6 percent, while hourly wages ticked up 0.1 percent.

Retailers did their part in boosting last month’s healthy employment report, despite severe weather challenges and issues of  inventories stuck at West Coast ports.

Still, wages continue to be a soft spot that has some economists saying consumers could remain wary about spending. And with Wal-Mart and TJX raising wages for employees last month, setting new standards, other retailers might feel pressured to follow suit. This move by Walmart could simply be a sign of things to come, with the minimum wage debate raging and competition among retailers fierce to capture the loyalty of their customer base.

One factor that has driving Walmart and other retailers to raise their wage scales is a growing demand for labor in the retail marketplace.  According to the New York Times, with the unemployment rate now at 5.7 percent,  down from 9.8 percent five years ago Walmart has experienced difficulties retaining employees in a job market where its competitors like Costco Wholesale offer better wages.

What impact the wage debate will have on overall retail job growth is yet to be determined.