Happy Friday to you all. Here is something to brighten your day, which hopefully is not needed because you are already having a great day but this can be some icing on the top of the cake perhaps. What is almost as good as creating jobs? Not losing the ones people already had. There is a lot in this one. We talked in earlier blogs how January is a bad month for retailers because they get their holiday numbers and for many they are disappointing or worse. This leads them to either shut down entirely or reduce costs. This is what we see here, with mainly retail companies laying people off now. But here in Florida, where the recovery is further along than many places and tourism is surging, and retail is very strong. These numbers support that in a big way: in January 2013 2,892 people were laid off but only 812 in January 2014. In South Florida in December 2013 Broward and Palm Beach counties added 6,300 and 5,300 retail jobs, increases of 5.9% and 7.3% from a year ago, respectively. But the rest of the country seems to be going in the other direction from Florida. January saw 40,430 planned layoffs recorded, a 12% increase from one year ago. US employers will reduce payrolls 45,107 in January, up from 30,623 in December. Retailers cut 11,394 jobs in January 2014, almost double the 6,676 cuts from a year ago. Specific retailers are mentioned: Macys, Sam’s Club, JC Penney, Sears, Best Buy and Target. It is not surprising since these companies are fighting for their lives out there and they are losing. They will keep cutting prices and jobs until they reach profitability, which might not happen in any case. What happened to the rosy 2014 we all expected and needed? Stock market is down sharply, job market anemic and rates are moving up. So many mixed messages out there with the economy but these are numbers that are solid and true. They don’t spell good news for the rest of the country.
Florida's January job cuts down 72 percent from last year
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/
Orin Rosenfeld
President
Rosenfeld Realty Advisors
9858 Glades Rd. Suite 209
Boca Raton, FL 33434
Phone: 561-756-1665
Fax: 561-470-0707
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