About this work
Retail job losses in September 2019 reflected the declining market share of physical stores without eliminating their efficiency gap with online commerce. Jonathan Fortun and Robin Brooks distinguished that sectoral adjustment from stronger overall US hiring, then running near 150,000 jobs per month against roughly 80,000 needed to keep unemployment stable. They saw scope for unemployment to fall further, rather than treating retail contraction as evidence of general labor market weakness.
Abstract
Retail job losses in September 2019 reflected the declining market share of physical stores without eliminating their efficiency gap with online commerce. Jonathan Fortun and Robin Brooks distinguished that sectoral adjustment from stronger overall US hiring, then running near 150,000 jobs per month against roughly 80,000 needed to keep unemployment stable. They saw scope for unemployment to fall further, rather than treating retail contraction as evidence of general labor market weakness.
Cite this work
Jonathan Fortun, Robin Brooks (2019). Global Macro Views: Retail Employment and the US Labor Market. Institute of International Finance.