Department Store Nostalgia Is Misguided

Scott Lincicome andRevana SharfuddinThe pandemic has caused or accelerated thedemise of numerous U.S. companies, and your local department stores are among the hardest hit. Government lockdowns and consumer reluctance in 2020 intensified longstanding pressures on the brick ‐​and‐​mortar retail industry, pushing many iconic names, such as Nieman Marcus, J.C. Penny, and Belk, over the edge and into bankruptcy – events that have elicitedlaments about not only the companies and workers involved but the broader, long ‐​term decline of brick‐​and‐​mortar retail and, by extension, the American middle class. Such claims, however, are heavy on nostalgia but light on facts – especially when it comes to thee ‐​commerce jobs replacing lost department store jobs. Indeed, while department store closures are undoubtedly difficult for the companies, workers, and (perhaps) communities involved, their secular decline has little to do with the state of the middle class and may, in fact, be something to celebrate.On the first issue, the decline of department store jobs actually coincides with rising median personal incomesand disposable incomes (though the latter data are incomplete):As we ’vediscussed here previously, other data on middle ‐​class wages and incomes show that the primary cause of the “shrinking” middle class is Americans moving up, not down, the financial ladder. Thus, there’s little data to suggest that “the collapse of America’s middl...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs