Even the Essential Industries Aren’t Adding That Many Jobs
A look at the only sectors with rising employment in April reveals some sparse pickings.
Keeping carts clean is essential.
Photographer: Cesar Rodriguez/BloombergAmid the worst jobs report in the history of jobs reports, a few industries actually added jobs from mid-March to mid-April.
“General merchandise stores including warehouse clubs and supercenters” is the North American Industry Classification System category for Walmarts, Targets, Dollar Trees, Sam’s Clubs, Costcos and such. It seems likely that supermarkets also saw job gains, but for them and most other industry subcategories employment is reported with a one month lag, so we won’t know until the next jobs report. Food and beverage stores, the supersector that includes supermarkets, saw a 42,000-job seasonally adjusted decline in employment in April.