Retail Trade: NAICS 44-45

About the Retail Trade sector

The retail trade sector is part of the trade, transportation, and utilities supersector.

The Retail Trade sector comprises establishments engaged in retailing merchandise, generally without transformation, and rendering services incidental to the sale of merchandise.

The retailing process is the final step in the distribution of merchandise; retailers are, therefore, organized to sell merchandise in small quantities to the general public. This sector comprises two main types of retailers: store and nonstore retailers.

1. Store retailers operate fixed point-of-sale locations, located and designed to attract a high volume of walk-in customers. In general, retail stores have extensive displays of merchandise and use mass-media advertising to attract customers. They typically sell merchandise to the general public for personal or household consumption, but some also serve business and institutional clients. In addition to retailing merchandise, some types of store retailers are also engaged in the provision of after-sales services, such as repair and installation.

2. Nonstore retailers, like store retailers, are organized to serve the general public, but their retailing methods differ. The establishments of this subsector reach customers and market merchandise with methods, such as the broadcasting of "infomercials," the broadcasting and publishing of direct-response advertising, the publishing of paper and electronic catalogs, door-to-door solicitation, in-home demonstration, selling from portable stalls (street vendors, except food), and distribution through vending machines.

North American Industry Classification System

The retail trade sector consists of these subsectors:

Workforce Statistics

This section provides information relating to employment and unemployment in retail trade. While most data are obtained from employer or establishment surveys, information on industry unemployment comes from a national survey of households. The following tables present an overview of the industry including the number of jobs, the unemployment rate of those previously employed in the industry, job openings and labor turnover, union membership and representation, gross job gains and losses, data for occupations common to the industry, and projections of occupational employment change.

Employment, Unemployment, and Openings, Hires, and Separations


Data series	Aug. 2024	Sep. 2024	Oct. 2024	Nov. 2024
Employment (in thousands)
Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)	15,646.8	15,654.1	(p)15,650.4	(p)15,622.4
Employment, production and nonsupervisory employees (seasonally adjusted)	13,425.7	13,447.4	(p)13,432.3	(p)13,415.8
Unemployment
Unemployment rate	5.4%	5.0%	4.9%	5.1%
Job openings, hires, and separations (in thousands)
Job openings	666	563	(p)563
Hires	620	609	(p)744
Separations	689	571	(p)594
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics, Current Population Survey, Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey)

Union Membership and Representation


Data series	2020	2021	2022	2023
Union membership and representation
Members of unions (percent of wage and salary workers)	4.6%	4.4%	4.3%	3.7%
Represented by unions (percent of wage and salary workers)	5.1%	5.0%	5.0%	4.5%

(Source: Current Population Survey)

Dynamic Changes in Employment


Data series	2nd quarter 2023	3rd quarter 2023	4th quarter 2023	1st quarter 2024
Dynamic changes in employment (in thousands)
Gross job gains	867	841	762	826
Gross job losses	898	906	873	725

(Source: Business Employment Dynamics)

Employment by Occupation


Data series	Employment, 2023
Cashiers	2,739,960
Customer service representatives	512,720
First-line supervisors/managers of retail sales workers	965,140
Retail salespersons	3,319,640
Stock clerks and order fillers	1,825,330

(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 retail trade.

(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, as well as weekly earnings by union membership status, are shown. In addition, recent hourly and annual earnings are shown for occupations commonly found in retail trade. This section also contains information on the average cost of benefits paid by employers, as well as recent rates of change in wages and total compensation.

Earnings and Hours of All Employees


Data series	Aug. 2024	Sep. 2024	Oct. 2024	Nov. 2024
Average hourly earnings	$24.56	$24.62	(p)$24.76	(p)$24.97
Average weekly hours	29.7	29.7	(p)29.7	(p)29.6
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings and Hours of Production and Nonsupervisory Employees


Data series	Aug. 2024	Sep. 2024	Oct. 2024	Nov. 2024
Average hourly earnings	$20.96	$20.96	(p)$21.01	(p)$21.10
Average weekly hours	30.3	30.3	(p)30.4	(p)30.1
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings by Occupation


Data series	Wages, 2023
	Hourly		Annual
	Median	Mean	Median	Mean
Cashiers	$14.33	$14.76	$29,810	$30,700
Customer service representatives	$16.90	$17.65	$35,160	$36,700
First-line supervisors/managers of retail sales workers	$22.35	$24.77	$46,480	$51,520
Retail salespersons	$16.18	$17.58	$33,650	$36,570
Stock clerks and order fillers	$16.80	$17.00	$34,940	$35,360

(Source: Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics)

Employee Benefits

This section presents data on the incidence (the percentage of workers with access to and participation in employer-provided benefit plans) and provisions of selected employee benefits from the National Compensation Survey. More Benefits estimates are also accessible from the Benefits database, the archived NCS publications page, and the complete Employee Benefits Excel dataset (XLSX).


Data series	Access		Participation
Data series	Back data	2024	Back data	2024
Private industry
Retirement benefit plans		77		39
Defined benefit plans		9		5
Defined contribution plans		74		35

(Source: Employee Benefits in the United States)


Data series	After 1 year of service		After 20 years of service
Data series	Back data	2024	Back data	2024
Mean number of vacation days for private industry workers without consolidated leave plans		7		16

(Source: Employee Benefits in the United States)


Data series	Back data	2024
Percent of private industry workers with access to employer-sponsored benefits
Health care		55
Paid vacation		70
Paid sick leave		69

(Source: Employee Benefits in the United States)

Employer Compensation Costs


Data series	4th quarter 2023	1st quarter 2024	2nd quarter 2024	3rd quarter 2024
Private industry
12-month percent change
Total compensation	4.1%	2.7%	3.1%	2.9%
Wages and salaries	4.3%	3.1%	3.4%	3.0%
3-month percent change
Total compensation	0.5%	0.3%	1.5%	0.6%
Wages and salaries	0.6%	0.2%	1.5%	0.6%

(Source: Compensation Cost Trends)


Data series	Private industry
	Compensation component ($ per hour worked)		Percent of total compensation
	Back data	2nd quarter 2024	Back data	2nd quarter 2024
Total compensation		24.99		100.0
Wages and salaries		19.31		77.3
Total benefits		5.68		22.7
Insurance		1.36		5.4
Retirement		0.48		1.9
Paid leave		1.26		5.0

(Source: Compensation Cost Trends)

Union Membership and Representation


Data series	Back data	Median weekly earnings
Data series	Back data	2020	2021	2022	2023
Union membership and representation
Full-time workers		$721	$744	$814	$846
Members of unions		$731	$763	$780	$849
Represented by unions		$728	$766	$797	$852
Nonunion		$721	$742	$815	$846

(Source: Current Population Survey)

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 retail trade. 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	291	275	263	302
Blank cells indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria.


Data series	2023
Rate of injury and illness cases per 100 full-time workers
Total recordable cases	3.1
Cases involving days away from work, job restriction, or transfer	1.9
Cases involving days away from work	1.1
Cases involving days of job transfer or restriction	0.8
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	Aug. 2024	Sep. 2024	Oct. 2024	Nov. 2024
Producer price index	(p)157.378	(p)158.605	(p)158.145	(p)158.155
Percent change from previous month	(p)1.1%	(p)0.8%	(p)-0.3%	(p)0.0%
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Producer Price Indexes)

Workplace Trends

This section presents data on the number of establishments and the number of establishments experiencing job gains or job losses in retail trade. 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	3rd quarter 2023	4th quarter 2023	1st quarter 2024	2nd quarter 2024
Number of establishments
Private industry	1,073,704	1,077,309	(p)1,079,629	(p)1,083,811
Local government	719	716	(p)720	(p)723
State government	434	438	(p)437	(p)438
Federal government	715	715	(p)709	(p)716
Establishments with changes in employment (in thousands)
With job gains (seasonally adjusted)	260	263	265
With job losses (seasonally adjusted)	279	274	266
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Business Employment Dynamics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages)

Productivity

This section presents productivity and related data for the industry, presented as the percent change from the previous year. Measures of labor productivity, or output per hour, compare the growth in output to the growth in hours worked. Growth in unit labor costs represent the annual change in the labor cost of producing one unit of output.


Data series	2020	2021	2022	2023
Labor productivity, output per hour	8.8	6.1	-1.2	1.6
Hours worked	-4.8	3.4	-0.8	-0.1
Output	3.6	9.6	-2.0	1.6
Unit labor costs	-0.6	2.6	5.5	0.4

(Source: Productivity)

Data extracted on: December 13, 2024

Retail Trade: NAICS 44-45

On This Page

About the Retail Trade sector

Workforce Statistics

Employment, Unemployment, and Openings, Hires, and Separations

Union Membership and Representation

Dynamic Changes in Employment

Employment by Occupation

Projections

Earnings and Hours

Earnings and Hours of All Employees

Earnings and Hours of Production and Nonsupervisory Employees

Earnings by Occupation

Employee Benefits

Employer Compensation Costs

Union Membership and Representation

Work-related Fatalities, Injuries, and Illnesses

Prices

Workplace Trends

Establishments

Productivity