US retail sales growth will likely slow this year due to high unemployment and fragile consumer confidence, the National Retail Federation (NRF) said Monday.
The group forecast retail industry sales to grow 3.4 percent in 2012, slower than 4.7 percent in the previous month. "Stubbornly high unemployment and continued uncertainty over the prospects for job growth will continue to dampen the outlook for industry retail sales growth in 2012," the Federation said in a statement. According to the industry group, the factors that contributed to its 2012 economic forecast included high unemployment, lack of newly-created jobs, modest income growth, inflation, anemic housing market conditions and weak consumer confidence.