WASHINGTON — U.S. apparel and textile producers cut a seasonally adjusted 4,100 jobs in August, as retailers reduced payrolls.
Nationwide, employers added 128,000 positions — less than the 150,000 that many economists think is necessary to keep up with population growth but more than the 121,000 jobs created in July.
And the unemployment rate matched a five-year low, falling to 4.7 percent from 4.8 percent, according to the Labor Department’s monthly jobs report.
Apparel and accessories stores reduced payrolls by 2,200 to 1.4 million, and department stores cut 8,500 positions to employ a total of 1.6 million.
Overall, retail employment in August was down by 101,300 from a year earlier, with cuts in the department store workforce making up half of that drop-off.
Department stores have been hit by consolidation, especially the merger of May and Federated Department Stores, which will give Federated’s Macy’s chain a broader national reach but will also result in the divestiture of 80 stores.
Stores are also trimming payrolls to meet stiff competition, said Charles McMillion, president and chief economist of Washington-based MBG Information Services.
“Retailers are cutting back on the number of people who serve you,” McMillion said. “They’re all trying to compete with Wal-Mart, and they’re all trying to compete with FedEx and shopping online.”
Consumers might also trim their spending as workers put in fewer hours and earn less per week. The average workweek for nonsupervisory workers fell to a seasonally adjusted 33.8 hours in August from 33.9 hours the preceding month, as average weekly earnings declined to $567.50 from $568.50 in July.
“In terms of consumer income, it wasn’t good news in today’s report,” said Nigel Gault, U.S. economist for Global Insight. “The general message is that, not that spending is going to actually go down, but we’ve got to expect the spending growth will be slower. The economy is slowing down, it’s not going into recession, but it is slowing.”
That assessment comes as the Federal Reserve has tried to tamp down inflation with higher interest rates to slow down economic expansion.
Textile mills trimmed 1,400 positions last month for a total of 192,800, as employment at textile product mills slid by 600 to 168,000, and apparel producers cut 2,100 jobs to employ 247,000. Collectively, the three sectors, which have all been hit hard by imports from low-cost countries such as China, have lost 37,500 jobs over the past year.