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NIOSH Programs > Wholesale and Retail Trade > Economic Factors
Wholesale and Retail TradeInput: Economic FactorsThe Wholesale and Retail Trade sector is particularly sensitive to changes in technology, global trade, business practices, and consumer tastes. Employment levels mirror these changes resulting in the stresses of job loss or the stresses of over-employment that include unplanned overtime, long workdays, and shift work, all of which can adversely impact the economic and physical well being of the 21 million workers in this sector. Across the SectorChanges in the business climate, consumer demands, and new technologies lead to changes in job conditions and job turnover that eventually impacts overall productivity and safety and health issues.
Violence is a threat to the safety and security of nearly all operations within the sector.
Productivity is linked to safe and healthful worksites. NIOSH needs to make the business case that well functioning safety and health programs are associated with increases in both productivity and quality of work.
Wholesale tradeFrom 1974 to 2004, the proportion of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) accounted for by wholesale trade decreased from 7% to 5.9%. 1 In 2004, wholesale trade accounted for 5.7 million jobs. More than 193,000 wholesale trade workers were self-employed, while approximately 90% of wholesale trade establishments employ less than 20 workers. Approximately 36% of all wholesale trade workers work in establishments that employ less than 20 workers. 2 Nonsupervisory wage and salary workers in wholesale trade earned $667 a week on average in 2004, compared to $529 for the entire workforce. 2 The most common occupation in wholesale trade is sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, except technical and scientific products . In November 2004, there were 830,860 of these sales representatives in wholesale trade and their average annual wages were $54,890. See BLS Industry at a Glance In 2004, approximately 5% of workers in wholesale trade were union members, compared with 14% of the entire workforce. 2 In terms of its outlook, the sector is constantly changing in reaction to changes in technology and business practices.
Low growth, increasing input cost pressures, and changes in technology and practices can be considered economic stressors that have the potential to affect the safety and health of workers both directly (more and changing work at a fast pace with limited opportunity for advancement) and indirectly (less resources available to invest in occupational safety and health). For additional economic information, see: http://www.bls.gov/oco/cg/cg1003.htm Retail tradeFrom 1974 to 2004, the proportion of GDP accounted for by retail trade decreased from 7.6% to 6.7%. 1 In 2005, retail trade accounted for 1.4 million retail establishments, more than 23 million workers, and $4.4 trillion in sales. 4 The Retail Trade sector has a diverse mix of jobs, ranging from cashier to stock handler. The most common occupation in retail trade is retail salespersons . There were 3,937,540 retail salespersons in retail trade; their average annual wages were $22,720. Workers in retail trade are increasingly contract, temporary, and part-time workers. Their education level is low and their turnover rate is high. In 2004, average weekly earnings were $371 for retail workers compared with $529 for the entire workforce. 2 In 2004, 31% of retail workers were under 24 years of age compared with 14% for all industries. 2 In retail industry, 3,637 homicides (46% of all homicides) took place from 1992 to 2001. The total (societal) cost of these homicides was $2.6 billion or 40% of the cost of all homicides for the period.5 Retail trade is highly sensitive to changes in economic conditions such as consumer tastes and seasonal changes in supply and demand, which can result in rapid changes in employment. Machine readable Universal Product Codes have helped automate the movement of goods and reduced unit costs. This technology also may have reduced musculoskeletal exposures. Increasing competition from large discount stores and supercenters will either force smaller stores to sell out to larger ones, or encourage them to become more efficient by adopting new technologies and procedures. 2 Increasingly, many stores let customers process their own transactions. Whether this trend will continue will depend on the public's acceptance of self-checkouts.2 Electronic shopping is gaining in popularity and will continue to take customers away from traditional retailers; it is expected that online sales will grow rapidly. 2 For additional economic information, see http://www.bls.gov/oco/cg/cg1003.htm SourcesAcross the SectorThere are many resources for information gathering and performing benchmarking and competitive analysis. The primary organizations that provide information are Federal and State government agencies and trade associations. Following are a few sites to use for your research: Government
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NIOSH Program:Wholesale and Retail Trade |
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