Retailers Cut Jobs in May With Consumers Facing Inflation, Pivoting to Services

Retailers cut staff in May as they grapple with rising inventories and pressures from high inflation, while employers added staff ahead of the summer, including hiring. strong at hotels, restaurants and entertainment venues.

The retail sector shed 61,000 jobs in May, an outlier in the labor market that added 390,000 workers in May, the Labor Department said on Friday, the Labor Department said. . Job gains were broadly based last month, with the leisure and hospitality, professional and business services, construction, transportation and warehousing sectors all adding steady jobs. Automakers cut jobs.