Last updated on February 26th, 2015 at 05:19 pm
The National Retail Federation released its 2015 economic forecast projecting retail industry sales (which exclude automobiles, gas stations and restaurants) will increase 4.1 percent, up from the 3.5 percent growth seen in 2014. The 4.1 percent increase would mark the biggest annual growth since 2011 when retail sales for the year increased 5.1 percent.
Additional economic insights from the National Retail Federation include: Growth in the labor market should average between 220,000–230,000 new jobs per month throughout the year and unemployment is expected to drop to 5 percent by year’s end. The NRF also confirmed holiday sales growth of 4 percent.
