Jobs report dragged by Toys R US bankruptcy

Toys R Us took a chunk out
of the July jobs report.
Getty/Justin
Sullivan

• Toys R
  Us might be the reason why the US economy added fewer jobs
  than economists forecast in July.
• The jobs report released on Friday showed that no group
  of companies saw bigger losses than retailers of sporting
  goods, toys, books, and music. 
• Toys R Us announced in January that it was closing all
  its US stores, meaning that over 31,000 workers lost their
  jobs. 

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Toys R Us appears to have taken a chunk out of the US economy’s
job gains in July. 

The
jobs report, released on Friday, showed that employers added
157,000 nonfarm payrolls, fewer than economists had expected. And
the subsector that had the biggest loss was hobby, toy, and game
stores.

Toys R Us filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last
September, and announced in January that it was
closing all its stores. This also meant
mass layoffs of its 31,000 US employees, and explains why
retail recorded so many losses in July.

The gains in retail jobs “were offset by a decline of 32,000 in
sporting goods, hobby, book, and music stores, reflecting
job losses in hobby, toy, and game stores,” the Bureau of Labor
Statistics said. 

Excluding this subsector, total retail payrolls increased
by 7,100 month-on-month, according to John Herrmann a rates
strategist at MUFG Securities. 

In the liquidation filing, Toys R Us 
blamed
its poor holiday performance 
on
Walmart, Target, and Amazon pricing their toys so low that it
couldn’t compete and profit.

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