Retail employment was down 6,100 mainly because Health and Personal care stores, who employ 1,048,000 of the 15,826,600 people who work in retail, shed 11,700 jobs. Department stores, who employ 1,133,200 people, shed 9,000 jobs. That combined decline was largely offset by a bunch (used it again) of small gains and losses in the rest of the sector.
To me, the February number looks a lot like those we have been seeing for the past year. So, weak growth, or a small decline, is what we have come to expect here.
