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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
Aug.
2024
Sep.
2024
Oct.
2024
Nov.
2024

Employment (in thousands)

Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)

3,260.0 3,263.3 (p)3,271.4 (p)3,268.5

Employment, production and nonsupervisory employees

2,911.2 2,893.3 (p)2,922.6  

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Employment by Occupation

Data series Employment,
2023

Butchers and meat cutters

100,960

Cashiers

917,330

First-line supervisors/managers of retail sales workers

170,280

Food preparation workers

186,150

Stock clerks and order fillers

641,540

(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
Jul.
2024
Aug.
2024
Sep.
2024
Oct.
2024

Average hourly earnings

$21.36 $21.60 $21.82 (p)$21.91

Average weekly hours

29.1 29.0 29.0 (p)28.9

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings and Hours of Production and Nonsupervisory Employees

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

Average hourly earnings

$17.64 $17.81 $17.86 (p)$17.93

Average weekly hours

28.8 28.7 28.7 (p)28.5

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings by Occupation

Data series Wages, 2023
Hourly Annual
Median Mean Median Mean

Butchers and meat cutters

17.85 18.55 37,130 38,580

Cashiers

14.42 14.97 30,000 31,140

First-line supervisors/managers of retail sales workers

22.65 24.72 47,120 51,430

Food preparation workers

16.42 16.13 34,150 33,540

Stock clerks and order fillers

16.54 16.42 34,400 34,150

(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 2023

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

Total recordable cases

3.9

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

2.6

Cases involving days away from work

1.5

Cases involving days of job transfer or restriction

1.2

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
Jul.
2024
Aug.
2024
Sep.
2024
Oct.
2024

Producer price index

(p)265.933 (p)265.049 (p)266.075 (p)266.604

Percent change from previous month

  (p)-2.1% (p)-0.3% (p)0.4% (p)0.2%

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

Number of establishments

Private industry

160,286 160,769 (p)161,098 (p)161,977

Local government

467 463 (p)464 (p)464

State government

429 433 (p)433 (p)434

Federal government

204 204 (p)203 (p)205

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(Source: 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

4.7 2.3 -2.3 -0.4

Hours worked

1.9 -0.9 0.5 -0.9

Output

6.6 1.4 -1.8 -1.3

Unit labor costs

3.2 1.3 7.1 6.7

(Source: Productivity)

 

Data extracted on: December 06, 2024