Reports indicate strong job growth for April as big retailers around the nation respond to increased consumer buys, but small business job figures are not nearly as promising. The difference in the numbers shows more people are shopping, just not at small businesses. For more on this continue reading the following article from The Street.
Summer seasonal retail hiring has begun in earnest, contributing to the positive April job numbers in the sector, which could be good news for anyone — particularly young people — looking for a summer job.
The Labor Department announced early Friday that nonfarm payroll employment increased by 244,000 in April, with the retail portion of it seen as cause for optimism. Small business, though, doesn’t get to share the feeling.
Retail trade added 57,100 jobs, up 23.6%, the largest growth across all industries, after two months of flat and negative employment numbers, according to the Labor Department. Since the findings typically cover larger firms, that means giants including Amazon(AMZN_), Wal-Mart Stores(WMT_) and Target(TGT_) are among brands that have been hiring.
SimplyHired.com, in a Wednesday release, pointed to a 92% increase in job openings for retail salespeople, signifying the start of summer seasonal hiring for retailers.
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"Consumer demand has been there. Retailers are obviously quick to respond to those trends and bring in more staff and bring in more positions," says Scott Krugman, spokesman for the National Retail Federation.
Behind retail, employment in professional and business services such as management and technical consulting and computer systems design services, often smaller firms, rose by 51,000.
But the National Federation of Independent Business monthly survey of 1,985 small-business members showed the average number of net new jobs slumping to 0.04 per firm from 0.17 in the previous month.
Approximately 8% of respondents, seasonally adjusted, increased employment last month, while 15% reduced employment, the NFIB findings said. Fourteen percent reported unfilled job openings, down 1 percentage point from April.
The outlook for employment growth remains weak. Only 16% plan to increase employment, and 6% plan to reduce their work force, equating to a net 2% of business owners planning to create jobs in the next three months, the NFIB said.
"The small-business community is still hurting," NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg said in a statement.
This article was republished with permission from The Street.
