General Merchandise Stores: NAICS 452

About the General Merchandise Stores subsector

The general merchandise stores subsector is part of the retail trade sector.

The general merchandise stores subsector consists of these industry groups:

• Department Stores: NAICS 4521
• Other General Merchandise Stores: NAICS 4529

Workforce Statistics

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

Employment and Layoffs

Data series	Back data	Oct. 2011	Nov. 2011	Dec. 2011	Jan. 2012
Employment (in thousands)
Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)		3,091.9	3,118.3	(P) 3,126.6	(P) 3,141.6
Employment, production and nonsupervisory employees		2,892.8	3,073.1	(P) 3,146.6
Layoffs
Mass layoff events		36	23	41
Initial claimants for unemployment benefits		4,380	2,525	5,876
Footnotes (P) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics)

Extended Mass Layoffs

Data series	Back data	4th quarter 2010	1st quarter 2011	2nd quarter 2011	3rd quarter 2011
Extended mass layoff events		16	44	(P) 20	(P) 7
Separations		4,203	12,018	(P) 4,855	(P) 2,638
Initial claimants		8,737	15,431	(P) 6,809	(P) 2,702
Footnotes (P) Preliminary

(Source: Mass Layoff Statistics)

Employment by Occupation

Data series	Employment, 2010
Cashiers	562,130
Customer service representatives	51,860
First-line supervisors/managers of retail sales workers	231,990
Retail salespersons	829,780
Stock clerks and order fillers	536,850

(Source: Occupational Employment Statistics)

Projections

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

Earnings and Hours of All Employees

Data series	Back data	Sep. 2011	Oct. 2011	Nov. 2011	Dec. 2011
Average hourly earnings		$12.79	$13.10	$12.72	(P) $12.44
Average weekly hours		32.6	32.9	32.3	(P) 34.0
Footnotes (P) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings and Hours of Production and Nonsupervisory Employees

Data series	Back data	Sep. 2011	Oct. 2011	Nov. 2011	Dec. 2011
Average hourly earnings		$11.41	$11.46	$11.31	(P) $11.16
Average weekly hours		31.9	32.0	32.2	(P) 33.3
Footnotes (P) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings by Occupation

Data series	Wages, 2010
	Hourly		Annual
	Median	Mean	Median	Mean
Cashiers	$8.78	$9.24	$18,250	$19,220
Customer service representatives	$10.50	$11.59	$21,850	$24,100
First-line supervisors/managers of retail sales workers	$14.70	$15.65	$30,580	$32,550
Retail salespersons	$9.29	$10.17	$19,330	$21,150
Stock clerks and order fillers	$9.28	$9.89	$19,310	$20,580

(Source: Occupational Employment 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 general merchandise 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	2007	2008	2009	2010
Fatalities
Number of fatalities	24	18	19	(P) 12
Rate of injury and illness cases per 100 full-time workers
Total recordable cases	6.4	5.7	5.2	5.0
Cases involving days away from work, job restriction, or transfer	3.9	3.4	3.1	3.2
Cases involving days away from work	1.7	1.5	1.4	1.4
Cases involving days of job transfer or restriction	2.2	1.9	1.8	1.8
Footnotes (P) Preliminary

(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	Sep. 2011	Oct. 2011	Nov. 2011	Dec. 2011
Producer price index		(P) 111.3	(P) 114.6	(P) 118.0	(P) 122.0
Percent change from previous month		(P) -1.4%	(P) 3.0%	(P) 3.0%	(P) 3.4%
Footnotes (P) Preliminary

(Source: Producer Price Indexes)

Workplace Trends

This section presents data on the number of establishments in general merchandise 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	3rd quarter 2010	4th quarter 2010	1st quarter 2011	2nd quarter 2011
Number of establishments
Private industry		52,676	53,069	(P) 54,013	(P) 54,251
Local government		5	5	(P) 4	(P) 4
Federal government		315	314	(P) 317	(P) 312
Footnotes (P) Preliminary

(Source: Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages)

Productivity

Data series	Back data	2007	2008	2009	2010
Labor productivity index, output per hour		117.743	116.004	118.641	118.999
Percent change from previous year		0.8	-1.5	2.3	0.3
Labor index, total labor hours		111.923	115.126	111.983	116.325
Percent change from previous year		3.3	2.9	-2.7	3.9
Output index		131.781	133.551	132.858	138.426
Percent change from previous year		4.2	1.3	-0.5	4.2
Unit labor costs index		95.127	94.849	96.083	92.789
Percent change from previous year		1.2	-0.3	1.3	-3.4

(Source: Productivity and Costs)

Other BLS Resources

Career Guide to Industries

See clothing, accessory, and general merchandise stores in the Career Guide to Industries.

 

Data extracted on: February 07, 2012