US apparel and fashion accessories sector witnessed job loss of 20,800 in the month of August 2018, stated National Retail Federation (NRF), the world’s biggest retail trade association based in Washington D.C., in the press statement. However, the overall employment rate in the retail sector surged by 89,100 jobs.
The home furnishing sector also observed 2,000 lesser jobs.
“The strong overall job growth across industries reflects the tight labour market but also shows that the economy is strongwever, the monthly drop was not a cause for concern because of large employment fluctuations typically seen during the summer,” NRF chief economist Jack Kleinhenz said.
Market-wide, standard hourly pay in August were up 10 cents against July and 77 cents from a year ago, marking a year-over-year surge of 2.9 percent, the largest increase since April 2009. The unemployment rate was at 3.9 per cent in August.
The US retail industry has added 201,000 jobs since May this year, as per the Labour Department.