American retailers are closing thousands of stores and going bankrupt at a rate not seen since the recession, with thousands of workers losing their jobs in a “slow-rolling crisis” that is reportedly devastating the U.S. economy.

“This is creating a slow-rolling crisis,” Business Insider cited Mark Cohen, the director of retail studies at Columbia Business School, as saying. “The people that work in retail stores will lose their jobs, then spend less money in retail stores because they are no longer employed. That creates a cascade of economic challenges.”

Since October, about 89,000 workers in general merchandise stores have lost their jobs, which is more than the number of people employed in the entire U.S. coal industry, the New York Times reported.

Cohen explained that both coal miners and retail workers don’t have a skill set of abilities that is easily transferable to another line of work.

“The retail industry, which