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Food and Beverage Stores: NAICS 445

About the Food and Beverage Stores subsector

The food and beverage stores subsector is part of the retail trade sector.

Industries in the Food and Beverage Stores subsector usually retail food and beverages merchandise from fixed point-of-sale locations. Establishments in this subsector have special equipment (e.g., freezers, refrigerated display cases, refrigerators) for displaying food and beverage goods. They have staff trained in the processing of food products to guarantee the proper storage and sanitary conditions required by regulatory authority.

North American Industry Classification System

The food and beverage stores subsector consists of these industry groups:

  • Grocery Stores: NAICS 4451
  • Specialty Food Stores: NAICS 4452
  • Beer, Wine, and Liquor Stores: NAICS 4453

Workforce Statistics

This section provides information relating to employment in food and beverage stores. These data are obtained from employer or establishment surveys. The following tables present an overview of the industry including the number of jobs, data for occupations common to the industry, and projections of occupational employment change.

Employment

Data series Back
data
Nov.
2023
Dec.
2023
Jan.
2024
Feb.
2024

Employment (in thousands)

Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)

3,247.5 3,247.4 (p)3,250.2 (p)3,253.1

Employment, production and nonsupervisory employees

2,927.5 2,933.1 (p)2,884.2  

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Employment by Occupation

Data series Employment,
2022

Butchers and meat cutters

100,270

Cashiers

886,540

First-line supervisors/managers of retail sales workers

166,040

Food preparation workers

174,970

Stock clerks and order fillers

656,680

(Source: Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics)

Projections

For projected (future) employment estimates, see the National Employment Matrix, which includes employment estimates by industry and occupation for food and beverage stores.

(Source: Office of Occupational Statistics and Employment Projections)

Earnings and Hours

This section presents data on employee earnings and weekly hours. The latest industry averages of hourly earnings and weekly hours are shown. In addition, recent hourly and annual earnings are shown for occupations commonly found in food and beverage stores.

Earnings and Hours of All Employees

Data series Back
data
Oct.
2023
Nov.
2023
Dec.
2023
Jan.
2024

Average hourly earnings

$21.09 $21.20 $21.24 (p)$21.48

Average weekly hours

29.5 29.8 29.7 (p)28.7

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings and Hours of Production and Nonsupervisory Employees

Data series Back
data
Oct.
2023
Nov.
2023
Dec.
2023
Jan.
2024

Average hourly earnings

$17.36 $17.41 $17.40 (p)$17.54

Average weekly hours

28.6 28.7 28.7 (p)27.9

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings by Occupation

Data series Wages, 2022
Hourly Annual
Median Mean Median Mean

Butchers and meat cutters

17.41 17.75 36,210 36,920

Cashiers

13.67 14.04 28,440 29,200

First-line supervisors/managers of retail sales workers

21.78 23.45 45,310 48,770

Food preparation workers

14.81 15.21 30,810 31,630

Stock clerks and order fillers

14.76 15.39 30,690 32,020

(Source: Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics)

Work-related Fatalities, Injuries, and Illnesses

This section presents data for the industry on the number of workplace fatalities and the rates of workplace injuries and illnesses per 100 full-time workers in food and beverage stores. An injury or illness is considered to be work-related if an event or exposure in the work environment either caused or contributed to the resulting condition or significantly aggravated a pre-existing condition.

Data series 2019 2020 2021 2022

Fatalities

Number of fatalities

54 72 66 65

Blank cells indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria.

Data series 2022

Rate of injury and illness cases per 100 full-time workers

Total recordable cases

5.2

Cases involving days away from work, job restriction, or transfer

3.9

Cases involving days away from work

2.9

Cases involving days of job transfer or restriction

1.0

Blank cells indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria.

(Source: Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities)

Prices

This section provides industry-specific pricing information. The producer price index measures the percentage change in prices that domestic producers receive for goods and services. The prices included in the producer price index are from the first commercial transaction.

Data series Back
data
Nov.
2023
Dec.
2023
Jan.
2024
Feb.
2024

Producer price index

(p)265.084 (p)263.264 (p)269.765 (p)266.317

Percent change from previous month

  (p)-0.3% (p)-0.7% (p)2.5% (p)-1.3%

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(Source: Producer Price Indexes)

Workplace Trends

This section presents data on the number of establishments in food and beverage stores. Also included in this section is information on productivity, presented as the rate of change in output per hour of workers in the industry.

Establishments

Data series Back
data
4th quarter
2022
1st quarter
2023
2nd quarter
2023
3rd quarter
2023

Number of establishments

Private industry

159,059 (p)159,031 (p)160,000 (p)160,758

Local government

465 (p)466 (p)467 (p)467

State government

423 (p)425 (p)429 (p)429

Federal government

204 (p)204 (p)205 (p)204

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(Source: Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages)

Productivity

Data series Back
data
2019 2020 2021 2022

Labor productivity index, output per hour

115.220 120.628 123.206 120.987

Percent change from previous year

2.8 4.7 2.1 -1.8

Labor index, total labor hours

101.701 103.623 102.695 103.210

Percent change from previous year

-0.5 1.9 -0.9 0.5

Output index

117.179 124.998 126.527 124.871

Percent change from previous year

2.3 6.7 1.2 -1.3

Unit labor costs index

102.527 106.054 107.811 115.178

Percent change from previous year

1.0 3.4 1.7 6.8

(Source: Productivity and Costs)

 

Data extracted on: March 15, 2024