Personnel

Beset by fierce online competition, a lackluster retail climate, the costs of rapid expansion and sagging profits of late, Nordstrom on Monday said it expects to lay off 350 to 400 people in a cost-cutting measure aimed at becoming more efficient. The majority of the cuts will come from its corporate headquarters in Seattle, where departments…

Target Corp has started raising employee wages to a minimum of $10 an hour, its second hike in a year, pressured by a competitive job market and labor groups calling for higher wages at retail chains, sources said. Target management has informed store managers, who in turn have started informing employees about the wage hike. Most…

On April 4, the governors of California and New York voted to approve new legislation that will increase the states’ minimum wages over the next six years. Both states will gradually raise the minimum wage rates to $15 an hour by 2022. The minimum wage in New York is currently $9.00, equating to just under…

Amazon.com said Wednesday that there’s no gender or ethnic imbalance in how it pays its employees, heading off pressure from activist investors who wanted the company to prepare a detailed report on the issue. A recent review of its 2015 compensation showed that women earned 99.9 cents for every dollar men earned in the same jobs,…

When Sports Authority filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy recently, some of the headlines blamed the retailer's woes on the shift to online shopping. While that's a convenient excuse — and no doubt has some validity — retailers both local and national have shown that online shopping isn't necessarily the be-all, end-all. Consider Big Lots.

Avon Products Inc., which split off its North American operations earlier this month, plans to eliminate about 2,500 jobs and shift its headquarters to the U.K. in a cost-cutting move. The shake-up will generate one-time expenses of about $60 million in the first quarter from severance and other costs, the New York-based cosmetics company said in…

Nordstrom has laid off more than a hundred staffers in its technology operations as the company steps off the investment pedal in the midst of a surprisingly tough retail environment. A person familiar with the company said 120 employees were laid off last week from the company’s tech department. The move comes in the wake of…

AutoZone Inc. said it will hire 10,000 more retail workers to staff stores nationwide during the height of its selling season. The Memphis-based auto parts retailer, which employs about 47,000 workers, released a statement Tuesday saying the additional full- and part-time staff will ensure customer service remains strong. The statement says markets most in need of additional…

Costco Wholesale Corp. will lift its minimum wage for the first time in nine years, by a $1.50 an hour, as the labor market tightens and competitors start giving workers a raise. The second-largest U.S. retailer will start paying at least $13-to-$13.50 an hour, up from $11.50-to-$12 an hour, the company said Thursday in a…

Wal-Mart cut more than 100 jobs at its Bentonville, Arkansas headquarters this week, in a new round of layoffs by the retailer. The latest cuts, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, follow the layoff of 450 workers at its home office in October. These cuts are separate from any occurring at the 100 or so…