As the holiday shopping season got in full swing, retailers ended up shedding almost 20,000 jobs overall. Analysts note that the figures are seasonally adjusted and subject to big fluctuations during that time of the year.
"Because of retailers' trepidations about this holiday selling season, they didn't do the usual amount of seasonal hiring," Mayland said.
The good news is the seasonal layoffs that occur in January and February should be moderate this time, he said.
The number of people working more than one job last year increased by 574,000 to 7.8 million.
People working part time for economic reasons, including those who wanted full-time jobs but could not find them, was virtually unchanged last month at 4.5 million.
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