Grocery Jobs Slid Again in January as Superstores Saw Gains, Again

The U.S. economy added more jobs in January than analysts had predicted, while the unemployment rate ticked up 0.1 percentage points to 4% after annual revisions to population estimates, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Feb. 4.

Overall, private employers added 467,000 jobs to their payrolls in January, higher than a consensus estimate of 155,000. That follows a disappointing December, when employers added 199,000 jobs, well below that month's predictions for a 400,000 jobs boost. 

Restaurants and bars added 108,200 of the 151,000 jobs that the leisure and hospitality industry gained in January. Retail businesses added 61,400 jobs, with general-merchandise stores—including warehouse clubs and supercenters—accounting for the biggest share of retail's gains. General merchandisers (excluding department stores) added 16,700 jobs in January. Grocery stores and other food and beverage retailers, meanwhile, lost 7,500 jobs after losing 1,800 jobs in December. That follows job gains of 9,000 in November and 16,000 in October at grocery/food and beverage stores.

In comparison, in January 2021, food and beverage stores added 15,000 jobs, after adding 8,000 jobs in December 2020. General merchandisers a year ago lost 38,000 jobs for the month.

The number of unemployed individuals has fallen by 3.7 million over the past year, the BLS stated in the Feb. 4 report. The unemployment rate also has fallen by 2.4 percentage points since January 2021 and is half a percentage point from the 3.5% recorded in February 2020, just before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Average hourly earnings in the past year for private-sector nonfarm employees are up 5.7%, according to the BLS. For production/nonsupervisory employees, average hourly earnings now stand at $26.92 an hour after rising 17 cents in January. For all private nonfarm workers, average hourly earnings were $31.63 in January, a 23-cent bump from December.