WASHINGTON—Specialty stores and general merchandisers boosted payrolls in January, while department stores continued to shed jobs, the Labor Department’s monthly employment report showed Friday.
Apparel and accessories stores added 18,300 seasonally adjusted jobs in January to employ 1.36 million, while department stores shed 5,800 jobs to employ 1.29 million. General merchandise stores, a category that includes department stores and discounters, added 1,400 jobs to employ 3.18 million.
In the overall economy, employers added 227,000 while the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.8 percent from 4.7 percent in December.
The jobs report was the first under the new Trump administration. It also included regular, annual benchmarking revisions that the government uses to adjust for seasonal fluctuations.
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Apparel employers cut 2,000 jobs last month to employ 126,900, while employment at mills making apparel fabric and yarn fell 500 to 111,600. Textile product mills added 500 jobs to employ 113,300.
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Scott Hoyt, senior director of consumer economics at Moody’s Analytics, said there is “at least” some employment growth in the apparel specialty store sector.
The average employment growth at apparel and accessories stores over the past four months, taking into account that October and November employment was down a combined 26,000 jobs, is about 2,125 jobs per month, he said.
“Given that sales growth is very weak in that segment, it’s small [employment growth] but it’s not surprising.”
The department store employment decline in January marked the third straight month of declines and is part of a longer term trend related to store closures.
“Sales are plunging and stores are closing. We would expect to see employment declines in that segment,” Hoyt said.
On the upside, Hoyt said the overall economy continues to add jobs at a “very healthy rate.”
The outlook for the overall economy is “continued strong employment growth,” he said.
However, the employment picture is much more “mixed” for apparel specialty stores and department stores, Hoyt said.
“Clearly a strong economy will boost apparel sales. The question is where does it go? How much goes to brick and mortar and how much goes to online. That’s where the prospects get more difficult.”
Nariman Behravesh, chief economist at IHS Markit, said the employment gains were “robust” but noted that the pace in January is “unlikely to be sustained.”
Jobs growth will likely continue in the 150,000 to 200,000 range in the coming months, he said.
Taking into account the benchmark revisions, Behravesh said there was a “significant improvement in labor market conditions” in 2016.
“The biggest disappointment was the continuing sluggish growth in wages, which suggests that there still may be some slack in the labor market,” he added.
Average hourly earnings rose 0.1 percent in January, which many economists said was “disappointing.”
“The weak average hourly earnings rate was a little surprising given the number of states that raised their minimum wage at the start of the year,” Hoyt of Moody’s said. “We are still puzzled by the fact that the wage data was particularly poor.”