Furniture and Home Furnishings Stores: NAICS 442

About the Furniture and Home Furnishings Stores subsector

The furniture and home furnishings stores subsector is part of the retail trade sector.

Industries in the Furniture and Home Furnishings Stores subsector retail new furniture and home furnishings from fixed point-of-sale locations. Establishments in this subsector usually operate from showrooms and have substantial areas for the presentation of their products. Many offer interior decorating services in addition to the sale of products.

North American Industry Classification System

The furniture and home furnishings stores subsector consists of these industry groups:

  • Furniture Stores: NAICS 4421
  • Home Furnishings Stores: NAICS 4422

Workforce Statistics

This section provides information relating to employment in furniture and home furnishings 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
Jun.
2008
Jul.
2008
Aug.
2008
Sep.
2008

Employment (in thousands)

 

Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)

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568.9 569.2 (P) 567.3 (P) 565.0

Employment, nonsupervisory workers

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461.7 462.3 (P) 462.5  

Layoffs

 

Mass layoff events

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4 (1) - 6  

Initial claimants for unemployment benefits

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191 (1) - 378  

Footnotes
(1) Data do not meet BLS or state agency disclosure standards.
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics)

Extended Mass Layoffs

Data series Back
data
3rd quarter
2007
4th quarter
2007
1st quarter
2008
2nd quarter
2008

Extended mass layoff events

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3 6 (P) 9 (P) 4

Separations

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468 2,002 (P) 3,268 (P) 434

Initial claimants

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337 1,074 (P) 1,839 (P) 593

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Mass Layoff Statistics)

Employment by Occupation

Data series Employment,
2007

First-line supervisors/managers of retail sales workers

34,220

Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand

34,120

Retail salespersons

244,470

Stock clerks and order fillers

21,440

Truck drivers, light or delivery services

30,460

(Source: Occupational Employment Statistics)

Projections

For projected (future) employment estimates, see the National Employment Matrix, which includes employment estimates by industry and occupation for furniture and home furnishings 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 for production or nonsupervisory employees are shown. In addition, recent hourly and annual earnings are shown for occupations commonly found in furniture and home furnishings stores.

Earnings and Hours of Production Workers

Data series Back
data
May
2008
Jun.
2008
Jul.
2008
Aug.
2008

Average hourly earnings

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$14.97 $15.28 $15.14 (P) $15.42

Average weekly hours

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29.2 29.7 30.0 (P) 30.1

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings by Occupation

Data series Wages, 2007
Hourly Annual
Median Mean Median Mean

First-line supervisors/managers of retail sales workers

$20.75 $23.63 $43,160 $49,150

Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand

$9.95 $10.47 $20,690 $21,770

Retail salespersons

$11.96 $14.50 $24,870 $30,160

Stock clerks and order fillers

$9.67 $10.31 $20,120 $21,440

Truck drivers, light or delivery services

$10.60 $11.21 $22,050 $23,330

(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 furniture and home furnishings 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 2004 2005 2006 2007

Fatalities

 

Number of fatalities

9 9 8 (P) 13

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

 

Total recordable cases

5.7 5.0 4.7  

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

3.2 2.8 2.8  

Cases involving days away from work

1.9 1.8 1.7  

Cases involving days of job transfer or restriction

1.3 1.0 1.1  

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
May
2008
Jun.
2008
Jul.
2008
Aug.
2008

Producer price index

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(P) 118.6 (P) 119.8 (P) 120.3 (P) 120.8

Percent change from previous month

 

(P) -0.7% (P) 1.0% (P) 0.4% (P) 0.4%

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Producer Price Indexes)

Workplace Trends

This section presents data on the number of establishments in furniture and home furnishings 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
1st quarter
2007
2nd quarter
2007
3rd quarter
2007
4th quarter
2007

Number of establishments

 

Private industry

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(P) 61,094 (P) 60,906 (P) 60,814 (P) 60,485

Local government

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State government

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Federal government

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(P) 2 (P) 2 (P) 2 (P) 2

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages)

Productivity

Data series Back
data
2004 2005 2006 2007

Labor productivity index, output per hour

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146.731 150.525 158.249 168.685

Percent change from previous year

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9.0 2.6 5.1 6.6

Labor index, total labor hours

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105.343 109.432 109.797 105.392

Percent change from previous year

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0.0 3.9 0.3 -4.0

Output index

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154.572 164.724 173.754 177.780

Percent change from previous year

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9.1 6.6 5.5 2.3

Unit labor costs index

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88.716 87.474 86.557 82.825

Percent change from previous year

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-5.7 -1.4 -1.0 -4.3

(Source: Productivity and Costs)

Other BLS Resources

Career Guide to Industries

To learn about careers from an industry perspective, see the Career Guide to Industries.

 

Data extracted on: October 08, 2008