Financial job carnage has already been announced. Layoffs in the financial sector may affect 80,000 or more. Cash strapped cities and states are shedding workers. Housing is abysmal. To top it off, Retail jobs carnage is just around the corner.





Lowe's to Close 20 Stores, Reduce Planned Openings

Gap Closing 189 U.S. Stores, Expanding in China

80,000 Financial Sector Layoffs

Wall Street Turns the Jobs Gun on Itself

Mall Vacancies Hit All Time Record





Employment data reveal the trend away from hiring at establishments that sell goods easily purchased on the Internet like books and hobby supplies. The need to employ sales people at apparel and accessory stores has actually increased since sales assistance is a necessity. An extra large shirt is not the same across all brands, and footwear sizes vary greatly. Colors can mislead on the web.



Wal-Mart and Best Buy are experimenting with smaller store formats. In its last quarterly earnings conference call Best Buy said, “… we are planning to reduce our big box square footage by 10 percent over the next three to five years. Our test results so far in this space continue to indicate that a store prototype which combines the enhanced operating model with reduced space and lower operating costs has not materially lowered our sales volumes.”