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, mass layoffs, data for occupations common to the industry, and projections of occupational employment change.

Employment, Unemployment, Layoffs, and Openings, Hires, and Separations

Data series Back
data
Dec.
2008
Jan.
2009
Feb.
2009
Mar.
2009

Employment (in thousands)

 

Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)

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15,037.9 14,991.5 (P) 14,940.7 (P) 14,892.9

Employment, nonsupervisory workers (seasonally adjusted)

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12,914.9 12,880.8 (P) 12,838.9 (P) 12,810.0

Unemployment

 

Unemployment rate

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7.4% 9.0% 9.2% 9.5%

Layoffs

 

Mass layoff events

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142 329 193 178

Initial claimants for unemployment benefits

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12,104 33,622 17,538 19,491

Job openings, hires, and separations (in thousands)

 

Job openings

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252 344 (P) 285  

Hires

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467 480 (P) 407  

Separations

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697 928 (P) 476  

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

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

Union Membership and Representation

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data
2005 2006 2007 2008

Union membership and representation

 

Members of unions (percent of wage and salary workers)

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5.2% 5.0% 5.3% 5.2%

Represented by unions (percent of wage and salary workers)

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5.8% 5.3% 5.7% 5.9%

(Source: Current Population Survey)

Dynamic Changes in Employment

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

Dynamic changes in employment (in thousands)

 

Gross job gains

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1,007 1,022 954 939

Gross job losses

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1,064 1,011 979 1,080

(Source: Business Employment Dynamics)

Extended Mass Layoffs

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data
1st quarter
2008
2nd quarter
2008
3rd quarter
2008
4th quarter
2008

Extended mass layoff events

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107 81 (P) 92 (P) 170

Separations

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24,119 15,044 (P) 20,887 (P) 44,850

Initial claimants

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(R) 30,444 19,704 (P) 22,541 (P) 23,329

Footnotes
(R) Revised
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Mass Layoff Statistics)

Employment by Occupation

Data series Employment,
2008

Cashiers

2,956,140

Customer service representatives

247,350

First-line supervisors/managers of retail sales workers

1,054,190

Retail salespersons

4,081,720

Stock clerks and order fillers

1,278,960

(Source: Occupational Employment 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 for production or nonsupervisory employees, 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 Production Workers

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data
Dec.
2008
Jan.
2009
Feb.
2009
Mar.
2009

Average hourly earnings

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$12.94 $12.97 (P) $12.96 (P) $12.98

Average weekly hours

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29.7 29.7 (P) 29.8 (P) 29.7

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Union Membership and Representation

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data
Median weekly earnings
2005 2006 2007 2008

Union membership and representation

 

Full-time workers

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$515 $520 $538 $564

Members of unions

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$590 $583 $608 $598

Represented by unions

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$585 $582 $601 $596

Nonunion

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$513 $518 $532 $561

(Source: Current Population Survey)

Earnings by Occupation

Data series Wages, 2008
Hourly Annual
Median Mean Median Mean

Cashiers

$8.52 $9.07 $17,720 $18,870

Customer service representatives

$11.17 $12.23 $23,240 $25,440

First-line supervisors/managers of retail sales workers

$16.84 $19.02 $35,030 $39,560

Retail salespersons

$9.80 $11.96 $20,380 $24,880

Stock clerks and order fillers

$9.35 $10.13 $19,440 $21,060

(Source: Occupational Employment Statistics)

Employer Compensation Costs

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data
2nd quarter
2008
3rd quarter
2008
4th quarter
2008
1st quarter
2009

12-month percent change

 

Total compensation

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3.6% 2.9% 1.9% 1.6%

Wages and salaries

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3.3% 2.9% 1.9% 1.8%

(Source: Compensation Cost Trends)



Data series Back
data
4th quarter 2008
Compensation component
($ per hour worked)
Percent of total compensation

Compensation costs

 

Total compensation

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16.77 100.0

Wages and salaries

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12.63 75.3

Total benefits

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4.14 24.7

Insurance

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1.12 6.7

Retirement

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0.36 2.1

(Source: Compensation Cost Trends)

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 2004 2005 2006 2007

Fatalities

 

Number of fatalities

377 401 359 348

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

 

Total recordable cases

5.3 5.0 4.9 4.8

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

2.7 2.6 2.6 2.5

Cases involving days away from work

1.5 1.5 1.4 1.4

Cases involving days of job transfer or restriction

1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2

(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
Dec.
2008
Jan.
2009
Feb.
2009
Mar.
2009

Producer price index

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(P) 108.2 (P) 108.2 (P) 108.1 (P) 108.7

Percent change from previous month

 

(P) -1.3% (P) 0.0% (P) -0.1% (P) 0.6%

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
4th quarter
2007
1st quarter
2008
2nd quarter
2008
3rd quarter
2008

Number of establishments

 

Private industry

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1,052,792 (P) 1,053,118 (P) 1,053,647 (P) 1,055,306

Local government

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541 (P) 540 (P) 544 (P) 542

State government

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418 (P) 417 (P) 417 (P) 418

Federal government

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593 (P) 587 (P) 587 (P) 590

Establishments with changes in employment (in thousands)

 

With job gains (seasonally adjusted)

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277 264 257  

With job losses (seasonally adjusted)

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292 296 309  

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

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

Productivity

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data
2004 2005 2006 2007

Labor productivity index, output per hour

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137.907 141.299 147.297 152.707

Percent change from previous year

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4.8 2.5 4.2 3.7

Labor index, total labor hours

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102.211 103.346 102.883 102.219

Percent change from previous year

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0.4 1.1 -0.4 -0.6

Output index

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140.955 146.027 151.544 156.095

Percent change from previous year

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5.2 3.6 3.8 3.0

Unit labor costs index

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93.073 93.468 92.330 92.301

Percent change from previous year

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-2.3 0.4 -1.2 0.0

(Source: Productivity and Costs)

Other BLS Resources

The Editor's Desk

See industry studies in the subject matter index of The Editor's Desk (Current Edition).

Career Guide to Industries

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

 

Data extracted on: May 01, 2009