{"id":1004057519,"date":"2013-01-11T07:24:41","date_gmt":"2013-01-11T15:24:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/?p=1004057519"},"modified":"2020-05-11T23:34:00","modified_gmt":"2020-05-12T07:34:00","slug":"economy-watch-holiday-retail-sales-up-modestly-job-openingsquits-status-quo-unemployment-claims-rise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/economy-watch-holiday-retail-sales-up-modestly-job-openingsquits-status-quo-unemployment-claims-rise\/","title":{"rendered":"Economy Watch: Holiday Retail Sales Up Modestly; Job Openings\/Quits Status Quo; Unemployment Claims Rise"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Dees Stribling, Contributing Editor<\/em><\/p>\n

Early indications were that retail sales during the holidays were modest, and now more data is coming in to reinforce the point. Chicago-based ShopperTrak reported this week that it estimates that Americans spent $248.8 billion at retailers in November and December, 2.5 percent more than during 2011. Not a bad gain, but not a robust one either.<\/p>\n

The company also estimated that foot traffic was up 2.5 percent year-over-year. \u201cOur data indicates that more people visited more stores this holiday season than the previous year,\u201d ShopperTrak founder Bill Martin said in a statement. \u201cRetailers who understood their foot traffic were able to staff, stock and market to their customers, ultimately converting more of the browsers into buyers.\u201d<\/p>\n

One highly specialized retail sector didn’t do well at all in December: videogame software. Sales of that kind of entertainment product were down 26 percent year-over-year, according NPD Group last week. Competition from mobile devices and digital downloads cut into retail software sales. Hardware sales were down, too, even though Wii introduced a new console.<\/p>\n

Job Openings, Quits Unchanged<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in its Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary (JOLTS), which was released on Thursday, that the number of U.S. job openings in November was 3.7 million, more-or-less unchanged from October. The number of openings was essentially static in all industries except retail, where the number decreased.<\/p>\n

Some industries are in more need of new employees than others, which can be a sign of relative good health for those industries. Job openings increased year-over-year for retail and for health care and social assistance, and even grew a bit in government, though state and local government job openings were almost static, noted the BLS.<\/p>\n

Another measure of the labor market, the number of quits–people leaving jobs voluntarily, some of whom do so with the prospect of another job waiting for them–was little changed in November compared with October, and little changed over the 12 months ending in November for private employers, but increased in state and local government. Quits also increased over the year in transportation, warehousing, and utilities, according to the BLS.<\/p>\n

Unemployment Claims Edge Up<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to the U.S. Department of Labor on Thursday, the number of initial unemployment claims for the week ending January 5 was 371,000, an increase of 4,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 367,000. The four-week moving average was 365,750, an increase of 6,750 from the previous week’s average.<\/p>\n

Wall Street had another up day on Thursday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average gaining 80.71 points, or 0.6 percent. The S&P 500 advanced 0.76 percent and the Nasdaq was up 0.51 percent.<\/p>\n

Like us on facebook:<\/strong> https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/Commercial-Property-Executive\/258033884191<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Retail sales during the holidays were modest, up by 2.5 percent compared to last year. The number of U.S. job openings in November was more or less unchanged from October. And unemployment claims for the week ending Jan. 5 increased.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1269,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21742],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1004057519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nEconomy Watch: Holiday Retail Sales Up Modestly; Job Openings\/Quits Status Quo; Unemployment Claims Rise - Commercial Property Executive<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/economy-watch-holiday-retail-sales-up-modestly-job-openingsquits-status-quo-unemployment-claims-rise\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Economy Watch: Holiday Retail Sales Up Modestly; Job Openings\/Quits Status Quo; Unemployment Claims Rise\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Retail sales during the holidays were modest, up by 2.5 percent compared to last year. The number of U.S. job openings in November was more or less unchanged from October. And unemployment claims for the week ending Jan. 5 increased.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/economy-watch-holiday-retail-sales-up-modestly-job-openingsquits-status-quo-unemployment-claims-rise\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Commercial Property Executive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CPExecutive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-01-11T15:24:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-05-12T07:34:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"the Editors of Commercial Property Executive\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@cpexecutive\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@cpexecutive\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/economy-watch-holiday-retail-sales-up-modestly-job-openingsquits-status-quo-unemployment-claims-rise\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/economy-watch-holiday-retail-sales-up-modestly-job-openingsquits-status-quo-unemployment-claims-rise\/\",\"name\":\"Economy Watch: Holiday Retail Sales Up Modestly; Job Openings\/Quits Status Quo; Unemployment Claims Rise - Commercial Property Executive\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-01-11T15:24:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-05-12T07:34:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/1b82b91678533ae5d40e3240086a42bb\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/economy-watch-holiday-retail-sales-up-modestly-job-openingsquits-status-quo-unemployment-claims-rise\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/economy-watch-holiday-retail-sales-up-modestly-job-openingsquits-status-quo-unemployment-claims-rise\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/economy-watch-holiday-retail-sales-up-modestly-job-openingsquits-status-quo-unemployment-claims-rise\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Economy Watch: Holiday Retail Sales Up Modestly; Job Openings\/Quits Status Quo; Unemployment Claims Rise\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Commercial Property Executive\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/1b82b91678533ae5d40e3240086a42bb\",\"name\":\"the Editors of Commercial Property Executive\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fc4d938ac2881d5bcae0ddd8397983de4563e191bf8314571185ff32f8f83ea6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fc4d938ac2881d5bcae0ddd8397983de4563e191bf8314571185ff32f8f83ea6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"the Editors of Commercial Property Executive\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/author\/theeditorsofcommercialpropertyexecutive\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Economy Watch: Holiday Retail Sales Up Modestly; Job Openings\/Quits Status Quo; Unemployment Claims Rise - Commercial Property Executive","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/economy-watch-holiday-retail-sales-up-modestly-job-openingsquits-status-quo-unemployment-claims-rise\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Economy Watch: Holiday Retail Sales Up Modestly; Job Openings\/Quits Status Quo; Unemployment Claims Rise","og_description":"Retail sales during the holidays were modest, up by 2.5 percent compared to last year. The number of U.S. job openings in November was more or less unchanged from October. And unemployment claims for the week ending Jan. 5 increased.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/economy-watch-holiday-retail-sales-up-modestly-job-openingsquits-status-quo-unemployment-claims-rise\/","og_site_name":"Commercial Property Executive","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CPExecutive","article_published_time":"2013-01-11T15:24:41+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-05-12T07:34:00+00:00","author":"the Editors of Commercial Property Executive","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@cpexecutive","twitter_site":"@cpexecutive","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/economy-watch-holiday-retail-sales-up-modestly-job-openingsquits-status-quo-unemployment-claims-rise\/","url":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/economy-watch-holiday-retail-sales-up-modestly-job-openingsquits-status-quo-unemployment-claims-rise\/","name":"Economy Watch: Holiday Retail Sales Up Modestly; Job Openings\/Quits Status Quo; Unemployment Claims Rise - Commercial Property Executive","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-01-11T15:24:41+00:00","dateModified":"2020-05-12T07:34:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/1b82b91678533ae5d40e3240086a42bb"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/economy-watch-holiday-retail-sales-up-modestly-job-openingsquits-status-quo-unemployment-claims-rise\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/economy-watch-holiday-retail-sales-up-modestly-job-openingsquits-status-quo-unemployment-claims-rise\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/economy-watch-holiday-retail-sales-up-modestly-job-openingsquits-status-quo-unemployment-claims-rise\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Economy Watch: Holiday Retail Sales Up Modestly; Job Openings\/Quits Status Quo; Unemployment Claims Rise"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/","name":"Commercial Property Executive","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/1b82b91678533ae5d40e3240086a42bb","name":"the Editors of Commercial Property Executive","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fc4d938ac2881d5bcae0ddd8397983de4563e191bf8314571185ff32f8f83ea6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fc4d938ac2881d5bcae0ddd8397983de4563e191bf8314571185ff32f8f83ea6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"the Editors of Commercial Property Executive"},"url":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/author\/theeditorsofcommercialpropertyexecutive\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1004057519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1269"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1004057519"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1004057519\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1004435674,"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1004057519\/revisions\/1004435674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1004057519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1004057519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1004057519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}