Grocery store job growth plateaus for June

Grocery retail employment flattened in June after the sector had chalked up two months of job gains.

Food and beverage retailers lost 300 jobs during June (seasonally adjusted) in the wake of downward-revised job additions of 3,600 jobs in May and 500 in April, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said Friday. The grocery retail segment had last seen a hiring downturn in March, with 6,700 jobs lost following increases of 4,500 in February and 1,800 in January.

As in the previous month, total job count for food and beverage stores was flat for June, dipping a tiny fraction of a percent to 3.2446 million from about 3.2449 million in May.

On an annual basis, grocery retail added 63,900 jobs in June, up 2%, compared with 67,200 jobs gained year over year in May, a 2.1%, BLS reported. The increased marked the eighth straight month of yearly job growth for food and beverage stores since a decline in October.

Total retail employment fell by 11,200 jobs in June, though the overall job count was down just 0.07% to 15.539 million. That came after a 23,000-job addition in revised figures for May. Versus a year ago, the retail trade’s job count rose by 71,700, or 0.4%, for June.

Warehouse clubs, supercenters and other general merchandise retailers tallied a smaller employment gain for June, adding 4,600 jobs, up 0.2% in May, when hiring grew by 13,800 jobs, according to updated BLS data. Year over year, hiring for the sector rose by 33,000 jobs, or 1.5%.

Overall general merchandise retail—including department stores—added 1,900 jobs in June, up 0.05% from May, when 19,700 jobs were added, and rising 1% from June 2022, an annual gain of 30,700 jobs. Department stores pulled down GM retail’s job count for June, with the segment seeing 2,700 jobs lost (-2.8%) from May and 2,300 jobs lost versus June 2022 (-2.4%).

Also in the food, drug and mass retail channel, health and personal care stores—including drug stores—gained 1,100 jobs in June, up 1% from May, when 1,600 jobs were added. The sector’s employment grew by 16,100 jobs on a yearly basis, a 1.5% increase.

The U.S. unemployment rate dipped to 3.6% in June from 3.7% in May—the highest level thus far in calendar 2023—but was the same as in June 2022, BLS data showed. Nationwide, the number of unemployed people decreased by 140,000 to 5.96 million in June and stood at roughly the same level as a year ago.

“Nonfarm employment has grown by an average of 278,000 per month over the first six months of 2023, lower than the average of 399,000 per month in 2022,” BLS stated in its June report.

Total nonfarm payroll employment grew by 209,000 jobs for June following a revised gain of 306,000 jobs for May. Annually, the nation added 3.79 million jobs, up 2.5%.

“Retail trade employment changed little in June (-11,000),” BLS said. “Employment continued to decline in building material and garden equipment and supplies dealers (-10,000) and in furniture, home furnishings, electronics, and appliance retailers (-5,000). Motor vehicle and parts dealers added 6,000 jobs. Overall, employment in retail trade has shown little net change over the year.”