Dive Brief:

• The monthly employment report for January by the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed healthy jobs numbers and a dip in the unemployment rate, not just for the month but also in revisions to November and December numbers. 

• Retailers added 34,800 jobs last month, keeping many of the hires they made over the holidays, according to the report.

• And according to the National Retail Federation’s numbers, the number of retail jobs in January increased by 215,600 compared to last year.

Dive Insight:

The number of retail jobs are rising as part of the overall employment picture, but in general retail jobs aren’t a major factor in the current recovery, experts say. Retailers appear to be making do with less, including employees. If overdone, experts say that under-hiring and under-paying workers could interfere with one of physical retailers' most important assets — its customer service.