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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 Back
data
Jun.
2024
Jul.
2024
Aug.
2024
Sep.
2024

Employment (in thousands)

Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)

15,664.9 15,661.3 (p)15,652.5 (p)15,668.1

Employment, production and nonsupervisory employees (seasonally adjusted)

13,418.6 13,432.3 (p)13,433.1 (p)13,461.4

Unemployment

Unemployment rate

5.3% 5.3% 5.4% 5.0%

Job openings, hires, and separations (in thousands)

Job openings

585 707 666 (p)591

Hires

787 701 620 (p)591

Separations

657 705 689 (p)562

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

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

Union Membership and Representation

Data series Back
data
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 Back
data
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 Back
data
Jun.
2024
Jul.
2024
Aug.
2024
Sep.
2024

Average hourly earnings

$24.42 $24.44 (p)$24.56 (p)$24.56

Average weekly hours

29.6 29.7 (p)29.7 (p)29.5

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings and Hours of Production and Nonsupervisory Employees

Data series Back
data
Jun.
2024
Jul.
2024
Aug.
2024
Sep.
2024

Average hourly earnings

$20.93 $20.90 (p)$20.99 (p)$20.95

Average weekly hours

30.2 30.2 (p)30.2 (p)30.3

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
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
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 Back
data
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
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 2022

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

Total recordable cases

3.7

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

2.5

Cases involving days away from work

1.7

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 Back
data
Jun.
2024
Jul.
2024
Aug.
2024
Sep.
2024

Producer price index

(p)158.538 (p)155.687 (p)157.362 (p)157.964

Percent change from previous month

  (p)-0.3% (p)-1.8% (p)1.1% (p)0.4%

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 Back
data
2nd quarter
2023
3rd quarter
2023
4th quarter
2023
1st quarter
2024

Number of establishments

Private industry

1,069,522 1,073,704 1,077,309 (p)1,081,728

Local government

718 719 716 (p)716

State government

434 434 438 (p)438

Federal government

711 715 715 (p)709

Establishments with changes in employment (in thousands)

With job gains (seasonally adjusted)

266 260 263 265

With job losses (seasonally adjusted)

283 279 274 266

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 Back
data
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 0.5

(Source: Productivity)

 

Data extracted on: October 31, 2024