Retailers create jobs in a tough economy & Tod's steps up their profits

The Bureau of Labor Statistics released the July Employment Situation Report, showing that the U.S. economy added 117,000 jobs in July, 26,000 of those attributed to retail's ramp up for back-to-school season. Health care, manufacturing, mining and construction were the areas responsible for the additional jobs. This growth drove the unemployment rate from 9.2 to 9.1 percent, an unexpected push in the right direction. Only 46,000 jobs were reportedly added in June.

According to the Labor Department, 8,600 positions were created in health and personal care stores; 3,900 jobs in general merchandise (i.e. Wal-Mart and Target); 5,400 in department stores and 3,000 in clothing and accessory stores.

"While positive retail jobs growth in July is another indicator that retailers are pulling their weight in this economic recovery, a strong jobs agenda would allow retailers to increase hiring on an even larger scale," said National Retail Federation President and CEO Matthew Shay.

“In short, these numbers are an improvement," began Chad Moutray, chief economist for the National Association of Manufacturers, in his Shopfloor blog. "After a couple weaker months of job growth, manufacturing employment is once again moving in the right direction, led by the durable goods sector. Hopefully, this bodes well for future growth in that sector.”

Still, Nigel Gault, the chief U.S. economist for forecaster IHS Global Insight, was unimpressed.“The July jobs report was not as bad as May and June. That's about the best that we can say for it," he said.

JULY BY THE NUMBERS:

• Government jobs, down 37,000.
• Financial services, down 4,000.
• Temporary help services, up 300.
• Transportation and warehousing, up 1,100.
• Construction, up 8,000.
• Leisure and hospitality, up 17,000.
• Manufacturing, up 24,000.
• Retail, up 25,900.
• Health care, up 31,300.
• Professional and business services, up 34,000.

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Tod's, the iconic brand known for its luxurious accessories and driving loafers, floored it past competition and boasted a 44.5% jump in the first half of its financial year.

"The results released today confirm the effectiveness of our strategy, which led to a sound and strong growth, both in terms of revenues and profitability, in line with our expectations," began Tod's chairman and CEO Diego Della Valle. "Therefore, I'm really confident in the group's ability to achieve its targets for the current year and to continue to grow both in sales and, even more, in profitability also in the next years."

All the group's brands, including Tod's, Hogan, Fay and Roger Vivier, posted growth rates in the first six months of the year described by the group as "outstanding."

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