General Merchandise Stores: NAICS 452

About the General Merchandise Stores subsector

The general merchandise stores subsector is part of the retail trade sector.

Industries in the General Merchandise Stores subsector retail new general merchandise from fixed point-of-sale locations. Establishments in this subsector are unique in that they have the equipment and staff capable of retailing a large variety of goods from a single location. This includes a variety of display equipment and staff trained to provide information on many lines of products.

North American Industry Classification System

The general merchandise stores subsector consists of these industry groups:

  • Department Stores: NAICS 4521
  • Other General Merchandise Stores: NAICS 4529

Workforce Statistics

This section provides information relating to employment in general merchandise 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
Dec.
2008
Jan.
2009
Feb.
2009
Mar.
2009

Employment (in thousands)

 

Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)

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3,029.2 3,040.7 (P) 3,043.4 (P) 3,057.2

Employment, nonsupervisory workers

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3,029.4 2,804.1 (P) 2,732.5  

Layoffs

 

Mass layoff events

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46 103 54 35

Initial claimants for unemployment benefits

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5,242 12,950 6,404 4,671

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics)

Extended Mass Layoffs

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

Extended mass layoff events

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30 23 (P) 19 (P) 36

Separations

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8,189 5,831 (P) 5,524 (P) 16,901

Initial claimants

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14,677 9,612 (P) 10,811 (P) 7,606

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Mass Layoff Statistics)

Employment by Occupation

Data series Employment,
2008

Cashiers

577,870

Customer service representatives

52,360

First-line supervisors/managers of retail sales workers

229,430

Retail salespersons

854,360

Stock clerks and order fillers

522,660

(Source: Occupational Employment Statistics)

Projections

For projected (future) employment estimates, see the National Employment Matrix, which includes employment estimates by industry and occupation for general merchandise 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 general merchandise stores.

Earnings and Hours of Production Workers

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

Average hourly earnings

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$10.65 $10.56 $10.71 (P) $10.78

Average weekly hours

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30.6 31.4 29.5 (P) 30.0

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings by Occupation

Data series Wages, 2008
Hourly Annual
Median Mean Median Mean

Cashiers

$8.51 $8.97 $17,690 $18,650

Customer service representatives

$10.47 $11.62 $21,770 $24,170

First-line supervisors/managers of retail sales workers

$14.69 $15.74 $30,550 $32,730

Retail salespersons

$9.17 $9.83 $19,080 $20,440

Stock clerks and order fillers

$9.34 $9.85 $19,430 $20,500

(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 general merchandise 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

26 19 26 24

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

 

Total recordable cases

7.0 6.7 6.7 6.4

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

4.3 3.9 3.9 3.9

Cases involving days away from work

1.9 1.7 1.7 1.7

Cases involving days of job transfer or restriction

2.4 2.2 2.2 2.2

(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) 112.3 (P) 104.9 (P) 104.6 (P) 106.9

Percent change from previous month

 

(P) 0.8% (P) -6.6% (P) -0.3% (P) 2.2%

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Producer Price Indexes)

Workplace Trends

This section presents data on the number of establishments in general merchandise 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
4th quarter
2007
1st quarter
2008
2nd quarter
2008
3rd quarter
2008

Number of establishments

 

Private industry

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50,721 (P) 51,195 (P) 51,285 (P) 51,508

Local government

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7 (P) 7 (P) 7 (P) 7

Federal government

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311 (P) 305 (P) 306 (P) 307

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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140.672 145.037 149.766 152.532

Percent change from previous year

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2.8 3.1 3.3 1.8

Labor index, total labor hours

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111.292 114.182 116.055 118.489

Percent change from previous year

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3.3 2.6 1.6 2.1

Output index

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156.557 165.607 173.811 180.734

Percent change from previous year

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6.1 5.8 5.0 4.0

Unit labor costs index

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90.426 90.182 89.257 90.241

Percent change from previous year

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-1.8 -0.3 -1.0 1.1

(Source: Productivity and Costs)

Other BLS Resources

Career Guide to Industries

See clothing, accessory, and general merchandise stores in the Career Guide to Industries.

 

Data extracted on: May 07, 2009