Difficult times in the U.S. Retail sector are hurting the workforce’s wallet. A string of store closings and insolvencies, including the bankruptcies of major retailers like Toys “R” Us, have translated into lost paychecks for thousands of workers across the country.

As of early May, 64,000 retail jobs have been lost so far in 2018; that puts retail at the top of the list in terms of job losses by sector. An estimated 33,000 people lost retail jobs when Toys “R” Us went bankrupt and shuttered the doors to its 735 stores nationwide, the largest job loss in the retail sector since 2015. All in all, an estimated 2,460 stores have closed this year, following on an estimated 9,241 store closures in 2017.

The changing nature of the retail world, with less and less brick-and-mortar stores needing fewer cashiers and sales people, could have big ramifications for the labor market. “Retail continues to lead sectors in terms of where the most job cuts are, which has been going on three years,” Andy Challenger, VP at Challenger, Gray and Christmas, a global outplacement firm, told CBS News in an interview. “There’s been a multi-year change for the retail industry as we continue to shift away from brick-and-mortar stores to e-commerce and online sales. In closing brick-and-mortar stores, the skills of cashiers and sales people are not transferable to the warehouse.”

Nevertheless, it isn’t all doom and gloom: The rise of ecommerce is creating new jobs, particularly as companies increase their backroom operations, invest in shipping, and create new handling and logistics centers to keep up with ecommerce demand. The question is how the labor market will shift to accommodate the

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