General Merchandise Stores: NAICS 452

About the General Merchandise Stores subsector

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

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	May 2012	Jun. 2012	Jul. 2012	Aug. 2012
Employment (in thousands)
Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)		3,073.2	3,059.1	(P) 3,053.4	(P) 3,054.4
Employment, production and nonsupervisory employees		2,841.8	2,826.4	(P) 2,824.6
Layoffs
Mass layoff events		49	55	33	42
Initial claimants for unemployment benefits		6,414	6,283	4,487	5,491
Footnotes (P) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics)

Extended Mass Layoffs

Data series	Back data	3rd quarter 2011	4th quarter 2011	1st quarter 2012	2nd quarter 2012
Extended mass layoff events		12	20	(P) 55	(P) 34
Separations		4,142	8,957	(P) 15,724	(P) 7,740
Initial claimants		4,419	14,389	(P) 20,618	(P) 9,502
Footnotes (P) Preliminary

(Source: Mass Layoff Statistics)

Employment by Occupation

Data series	Employment, 2011
Cashiers	562,200
Customer service representatives	66,940
First-line supervisors/managers of retail sales workers	239,540
Retail salespersons	855,840
Stock clerks and order fillers	525,820

(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 are shown. In addition, recent hourly and annual earnings are shown for occupations commonly found in general merchandise stores.

Earnings and Hours of All Employees

Data series	Back data	Apr. 2012	May 2012	Jun. 2012	Jul. 2012
Average hourly earnings		$13.32	$13.49	$13.47	(P) $13.86
Average weekly hours		31.3	30.7	31.0	(P) 31.8
Footnotes (P) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings and Hours of Production and Nonsupervisory Employees

Data series	Back data	Apr. 2012	May 2012	Jun. 2012	Jul. 2012
Average hourly earnings		$11.51	$11.70	$11.67	(P) $11.60
Average weekly hours		31.4	30.8	31.0	(P) 31.1
Footnotes (P) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings by Occupation

Data series	Wages, 2011
	Hourly		Annual
	Median	Mean	Median	Mean
Cashiers	$9.03	$9.56	$18,780	$19,880
Customer service representatives	$11.09	$12.01	$23,060	$24,980
First-line supervisors/managers of retail sales workers	$15.51	$16.55	$32,260	$34,430
Retail salespersons	$9.62	$10.50	$20,000	$21,850
Stock clerks and order fillers	$9.47	$10.15	$19,700	$21,110

(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	2008	2009	2010	2011
Fatalities
Number of fatalities	18	19	14	(P) 14
Rate of injury and illness cases per 100 full-time workers
Total recordable cases	5.7	5.2	5.0
Cases involving days away from work, job restriction, or transfer	3.4	3.1	3.2
Cases involving days away from work	1.5	1.4	1.4
Cases involving days of job transfer or restriction	1.9	1.8	1.8
Footnotes (P) Preliminary
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	May 2012	Jun. 2012	Jul. 2012	Aug. 2012
Producer price index		(P) 122.5	(P) 124.6	(P) 129.8	(P) 123.2
Percent change from previous month		(P) -1.0%	(P) 1.7%	(P) 4.2%	(P) -5.1%
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	2nd quarter 2011	3rd quarter 2011	4th quarter 2011	1st quarter 2012
Number of establishments
Private industry		54,223	54,682	55,022	(P) 55,169
Local government		4	4	4	(P) 4
Federal government		312	310	312	(P) 319
Footnotes (P) Preliminary

(Source: Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages)

Productivity

Data series	Back data	2008	2009	2010	2011
Labor productivity index, output per hour		116.131	118.721	117.474	115.765
Percent change from previous year		-1.3	2.2	-1.1	-1.5
Labor index, total labor hours		114.998	111.865	117.512	121.714
Percent change from previous year		2.7	-2.7	5.0	3.6
Output index		133.548	132.808	138.045	140.902
Percent change from previous year		1.3	-0.6	3.9	2.1
Unit labor costs index		94.847	96.061	92.984	94.000
Percent change from previous year		-0.3	1.3	-3.2	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: September 27, 2012