Department Store Workforce Reductions

Still no good news for department stores, The Wall Street Journal reports that Standard & Poor's last week cut the debt ratings of department stores including Macy's and J.C. Penney on "deepening concern about the impact of the U.S. recession on the increasingly troubled department-store sector."

Department Store Layoffs Tracker:

• January 2009: Lord & Taylor eliminated an additional 170 jobs, on top of the 120 layoffs in this past October, for a total of 3.5% of total workforce
• January 2009:  Sak's Fifth Avenue announced 1,100, (9%) in layoffs 
• February 2009: Macy's cutting 7,000 or 4% of their workforce
• March 2009: Barneys New York gets rid of 76 positions, about 3% of total 
• April 2009: Neiman Marcus cuts 936 jobs since January