American Retail Sector Shed 38,100 Jobs In October

New York, NY (AHN) - Retailers looking to cut costs during a slowing economy cut 38,100 jobs on a whole in October. The drop was the 11th consecutive month of job losses in the sector.

The job trend among retailers was further confirmed Friday when the Labor Department said October unemployment jumped to 6.5 percent, representing a 14 year high.

With a weak retail sales outlook for the remainder of the year, it is not likely the trend is going to reverse. Best Buy already announced they would reduce seasonal hires from 26,000 last year to a range of 16,000 to 20,000.

"It is a bleak season for retailers, and that is going to impact their hiring," said John Challenger, CEO of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, according to the Associated Press.

The weakest in the retail sector is not much different from many other areas of the economy. In the first 10 months of 2008, U.S. employment has fallen 1.2 million. More than 500,000 of those jobs were lost in just September and October alone.

There has only been one other time in history, December 1943 to September 1944, where total U.S. jobs fell for ten straight months without the economy falling into recession.