Well-placed, upscale malls continue to thrive, but the general trend is against malls in favor of online retailing and cheaper, more flexible strip shopping centers. In addition, lower crime rates and diminished racial strife reduce the attractiveness of the higher level of security that malls commonly provide. With the economy otherwise growing, dead malls are a sign of what Schumpeter famously described as the "creative destruction" of entrepreneurial capitalism.
To be sure, economic statistics these days are subject to a host of issues and there are still too many long-term discouraged and displaced workers who need to get back into employment. An era of strong labor demand and low immigration should mostly remedy most long-term unemployment.