Retailers cut staff in May as they struggled with bloated inventories and the squeeze from high inflation, while employers more broadly staffed up ahead of summer, including strong hiring 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 to payrolls in May, the Labor Department said Friday. The job gains were broad based last month, with the leisure and hospitality, professional and business services, construction, and transportation and warehousing sectors all adding jobs at a steady clip. Auto manufacturers cut jobs.