It is no surprise that retail is taking a heavy hit in 2017 with some of the most well-known and largest retail companies closing their doors to the public, or worse, filing for bankruptcy. With the up-roar of e-commerce, consumers choose to shop online for the quick satisfaction of the click of a button instead of making their way through traffic, parking, and rushing through people in an over-sized mall.<\/p>\n
The CEO of Urban Outfitters, Richard Hayne described this issue in accordance with the housing market when he said, “Retail square feet per capita in the United States is more than six times that of Europe or Japan. And this doesn\u2019t count digital commerce. Our industry, not unlike the housing industry, saw too much square footage capacity added in the 1990s and early 2000s. Thousands of new doors opened and rents soared. This created a bubble, and, like housing, that bubble has now burst. We are seeing the results: doors shuttering and rents retreating.”<\/p>\n
So, what does a massive hit in retail mean for jobs? Unsurprisingly, retailers have publicly announced over 200,000 lay-offs in the last four years and a growing 89,000 in 2017 alone. According to Business Insider,\u00a0<\/em>stores are closing at a rate not seen since the recession.\u00a0When looking at the data, there is an interesting story being told.\u00a0This chart shows that both traditional and online retail are soaring since the Recession. However, when diving deeper into particular industries is when we see a hit in job loss.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n This chart shows the decline of employment from appliance and electronic stores which were a huge industry to shut their doors to the public.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n And then we have, of course, the struggling clothing and retail market chart that shows the loss of employment in the last few years.<\/p>\n