The difficulties of retail and wholesale Trade in 1981 - The activity of retail and wholesale trade in 1981 reflected that of the economy as a whole: a decline at the beginning of the year was followed by a recovery at the end of the second quarter. This recovery primarily affected non-food goods, while food consumption varied little throughout the year. The number of firms having financial difficulties grew, which led to an increase in the number of bankruptcies and economic lay-offs. The different shares of the market for the various kinds of retail sales changed significantly, in favor of super-markets and large-scale outlets. These different factors had new consequences on the trends within the sector: there was a low growth of employme...