...Georgia by 15.3 percent from March to April. However, the number of initial claims was down 10.2 percent from April 2012. Most of those declines came in construction, manufacturing, retail trade, and education and health services.

...the Georgia Department of Labor.The department said that 1,600 jobs were added in November, 1,100 of them in retail trade. An extra 800 jobs were added in the professional and business-services sector.Partially offsetting the gains, according...

...But "fiscal cliff" worries dampened sales in December.The National Retail Federation, the nation's largest retail trade group, remains optimistic that sales won't be quite as bad as earlier reports have suggested. It is sticking to...

...600 new jobs in metro Augusta in November, mostly in retail trade.There were also 355 fewer new claims for unemployment benefits in construction, manufacturing, retail trade, and administrative and support services, according...

...til they drop like they have been in the past two years.The National Retail Federation, the nation's largest retail trade group, said Tuesday that it expects sales during the winter holiday shopping period in November and December to rise...

...The Augusta metro area had a net loss of 500 jobs in February, according to Georgia Department of Labor statistics.Retail trade shed 1,000 jobs last month. About 200 jobs were lost in professional and business services, and the information...

...According to the department, the rate decreased because there were fewer layoffs in construction, manufacturing, retail trade, transportation and warehousing, and administrative and support services.All six counties in the metro area declined...

...business activity by fall.Jack Kleinhenz, chief economist at the National Retail Federation, the nation's largest retail trade group, says he's sticking with the group's annual retail sales growth forecast of 3.4 percent for now."I'm...

...spend more when you can spend less?"According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of jobs in the retail trade industry in the Augusta-Richmond County area has gone from more than 25,000 in 2008 to slightly more than 23,200...

...of the Economic Forecasting Center at the university. "Significant job losses were reported in the government and retail-trade sectors with 755 and 1,534 job losses respectively."Other areas issuing pink slips were hospitality, construction...