Retail Workers Can’t Lose as Pay Rises and Colleagues Quit
Labor trends hint that some will leave the industry for better wages. Those who remain in the industry … will also get better wages.
It’s hard money, but somebody’s got to earn it.
Photographer: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg
One of the brightest spots in Friday’s strong jobs report was the acceleration in wage growth for workers in the retail industry. Assuming the economic expansion continues at a robust pace in 2019, conditions should get even better for retail workers next year. It’s just that we’ll probably end up with fewer of them.
Wage growth for retail workers was 4.6 percent in October, which was the fastest pace in nearly 20 years. This robust pace of growth doesn’t appear to be a fluke, either. In five of the last eight months, the annualized pace of wage growth for retail workers has exceeded 5 percent. Just like for workers in the economy overall, a tightening labor market for retail workers continues to produce an uneven but upward trend for worker pay.