by Aimee Picchi
Women who work in retail face a number of complicated labor market issues, says Ariane Hegewisch, program director for employment and earnings at the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, a think tank that focuses on women and the workplace. For one, Automation reduces employment for some retail jobs, such as cashiers, where almost three of every four workers are women, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Secondly, department stores such as Sears are shuttering or cutting staff, hurt by the shift to online retail and problems of their own making. When stores shift jobs to their warehouses to meet online sales demand, the positions are typically filled by men, Hegewisch says.
“And those jobs typically pay better per hour,” she notes.
