German Retailers Seen Cutting Jobs in 2003

The German retail industry is likely to cut around 30,000 jobs by the end of 2003, as poor business conditions increase the number of bankruptcies in the sector. “We unfortunately expect further reductions in retail this year. It should be similar to the year before and will also hit employment,” Hermann Franzen, the president of the HDE German retailing association, said on Wednesday. Franzen said there were the first signs of an improving outlook for retailers after three years of stagnation in the sector. But data released on Wednesday for the industry remained grim: The Federal Statistics Office said German retail sales unexpectedly slipped for the third month in four in August, as hot weather and holidays kept consumers away from the stores. Sales fell 0.2 percent from July and dropped 4.9 percent from August 2002.