Retail trade employment grew by 37,000 employees in February, reports Footwear News and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Despite ongoing labor shortages across the industry, there was a 6000-job gain in home and furniture stores, 12,000 in garden supply stores and building materials, and a 5000 gain at gas stations. Overall, the amount of added jobs beat February 2020 levels by 104,000 jobs.
The unemployment rate for February was 3.8 percent, down from 4 percent in January. A total of 4.2 million people said they were unable to work in February due to pandemic-related reasons or closed businesses, which was down from 6 million reporting similar reasons in January.
In recent months, many retailers are working to increase wages for hourly workers as well as grow healthcare benefit offerings.