Sharp Job Cuts Rock DFW Retail, Hospitality Sectors
The final two weeks of March disrupted Dallas-Fort Worth's 10-year economic expansion, with the sharpest coronavirus-related contraction occurring in the area's retail and hospitality sectors.
The U.S. experienced 701,000 job cuts in March, with leisure and hospitality representing 459,000 of the total reductions, according to U.S. Department of Labor data.
In Dallas-Fort Worth, those industries also faced steep job cuts in March and the first week of April, putting even more pressure on the already-strained retail sector and disrupting what was otherwise a healthy hotel market.
More than 300 retail-related job cuts were announced in North Texas in the past three weeks, while hotels in the area announced 691 staff reductions, according to filings with the Texas Workforce Commission.
Local news reports indicate many of these layoffs are temporary as hotels and retailers try to ride out the coronavirus storm.
The recently opened Virgin Hotels in Dallas announced 197 staffing reductions, and the Westin Stonebriar Hotel in Frisco said it would cut 123 jobs.
Other hotels in North Texas filing WARN notices, federally mandated 60-day advance notifications of mass layoffs, included the Dallas Addison Quorum by the Galleria (79 positions), Hilton Lincoln Center (97 jobs), Warwick Melrose Hotel in Dallas (113 jobs) and the Sheraton Fort Worth (82 positions), the Texas Workforce Commission reports.
The struggles of hotels could ripple through the financial markets: Trepp Analytics released a report in late March warning that 3,000 CMBS loans with a value of $86B are backed by hotels across the U.S.
Out of those loans, 97 are classified delinquent and another 476 remain under close watch, Trepp reported.
The DFW retail industry also experienced at least 300 job cuts in the past few weeks, with 222 of those reductions coming from retailer Fossil Group. Another 82 retail-related cuts were attributed to the Legacy West shopping community in Plano.
