Retail Trade

Industry Sector

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Workforce

16.6M

2020 ACS Estimate

Average Employee Age

38.8

Average Salary

$37,192

Average Male Salary

$44,234

Average Female Salary

$43,024

About

The top three occupations in the Retail Trade Industry Group are Retail salespersons, Firstline supervisors of retail sales workers, Cashiers, Stockers and order fillers, and Customer service representatives. On average, full-time employees in the Retail Trade Industry Sector work 42.9 hours per week and have an average annual salary of $48,945. Part-time employees in the same industry work 22.3 hours and earn an average annual salary of $13,423.

The locations with the highest concentration of employees in the Retail Trade Industry Sector are Queen Anne & Magnolia PUMA, WA, Benton County PUMA, AR, and Johnson County PUMA, TX. The industry that purchases the most products or services from the Hospitals Industry Group is Retail Trade.

Photo by paul bica

Workforce

A snapshot of jobs, wages, and opportunities in the Retail Trade Industry Sector. Retail salespersons are the most common position, but the Retail Trade Industry Sector employs a relatively high number of Retail salespersons, compared to other industries.

The highest average salary in Retail Trade goes to Architectural & engineering managers.

Monthly Employment

Showing data for the Trade, Transportation, and Utilities industry sector.

Start Year

Y-Axis

9.62%

Year-over-year growth

Employment change between May 2020 and May 2021

As of May 2021, there are 27.4M people employed in the Trade, Transportation, and Utilities industry. This represents a 9.62% increase in employment when compared to May 2020.

This chart shows monthly employment numbers for Trade, Transportation, and Utilities over time (non-seasonally adjusted).

Occupations by Share

16.6M

Workforce (ACS Estimate)

± 94.3k

−0.632%

1 Year Growth

± 0.806%

According to ACS estimates, the number of people employed in the Retail Trade Industry Sector has been declining at a rate of −0.632%, , from 16.7M people in 2019 to 16.6M people in 2020.

The following graphic shows the share of employment in Retail Trade by various occupations according to ACS estimates. Retail salespersons represent the largest share of positions held in Retail Trade at 18.1%, followed by Firstline supervisors of retail sales workers with 16.4% and Cashiers with 12.9%.

Most Common

The most common occupations in the Retail Trade Industry Sector, by number of employees, are Retail salespersons, Firstline supervisors of retail sales workers, Cashiers, Stockers and order fillers, and Customer service representatives.

Most Specialized

Compared to other Industry Sectors, Retail Trade employs an unusually high number of Retail salespersons, Firstline supervisors of retail sales workers, and Parts salespersons.

Highest Paid

The highest paid occupations in Retail Trade, by average wage, are Architectural & engineering managers, Lawyers, & judges, magistrates, & other judicial workers, and Geoscientists and hydrologists, except geographers.

Average Salary

$37,192

AVERAGE WAGE

± $293

On average, employees in the Retail Trade Industry Sector make $37,192 per year. This number makes Retail Trade the 12 highest paying Industry Sector in the United States out of a total of 14 Industry Sectors.

Wage by Location

HIGHEST PAYING PUBLIC USE MICRODATA AREA

HIGHEST PAYING PUMAS

This map shows which public use microdata areas (PUMAs) pay the highest average salary to employees in the Retail Trade Industry Sector.

Wage Distribution

0.501

WAGE GINI

Retail Trade has a wage GINI of 0.501, which is more than than the national average of 0.478. In other words, wages are distributed less evenly in Retail Trade (shown in red) in comparison to the national average for those wage buckets (shown in gray).

Spatial Concentration

Public Use Microdata Areas with RCA

This map shows the PUMAs in the United States that have revealed comparative advantage in the Retail Trade Industry Sector.

These are locations that employ more people in the Retail Trade Industry Sector than expected given both the size of that location's overall labor pool and the national size of the Retail Trade Industry Sector.

Diversity

Demographic information on the Retail Trade Industry Sector in the US. Male employees tend to earn more than Female employees, with average respective salaries of $44,234 and $43,024. So too tend to earn more than other races and ethnicities in this industry.

Composition by Sex

8.13M

FEMALE WORKFORCE

±68.1k

8.48M

MALE WORKFORCE

±69.4k

51.1% of workers in the Retail Trade Industry Sector are Male, making them the more common sex in the workforce. This chart shows the sex breakdown of the Retail Trade Industry Sector.

Wage by Sex in Common Jobs

$44,234

AVERAGE MALE SALARY

±$475

$43,024

AVERAGE FEMALE SALARY

±$462

On average, Male workers in the Retail Trade Industry Sector make 1.03 times more than their Female counterparts. This chart shows the sex-based wage disparity in the 5 most common occupations in the Retail Trade Industry Sector.

Wage by Race & Ethnicity in Common Jobs

RACE OR ETHNICITY WITH THE HIGHEST AVERAGE SALARY

Asian
White
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander

On average, Asian employees in the Retail Trade Industry Sector earn 1.27 times more than other races and ethnicities. This chart shows the race and ethnicity-based wage disparities in the 5 most common occupations in the Retail Trade Industry Sector.

Input/Output

Estimates of the sources of the costs and the purchasers of the products in the Retail Trade Industry Sector. Based on estimates from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, this section indicates the amount of money spent by a specific industry in other industries. Professional and business services has the highest single input, by dollars, to the Retail Trade Industry Sector, and the largest industry purchasing services from the Retail Trade Industry Sector is Construction.

In this flow diagram, all of the industries listed to the left are those places from which the highlighted industry has made purchases. They are the intermediate inputs to the highlighted industry. All those industries listed on the right side are those industries that have made purchases from the highlighted industry. They are the use of outputs of the highlighted industry. The visualizations below offer alternative ways to see and understand this data.

Industrial Flow

Intermediate Inputs

HIGHEST INPUT INDUSTRY

The Retail Trade Industry Sector gets the most input, by its share of the cost of all intermediate inputs, from the Professional and business services Industry. This visualization does not include labor and capital costs.

Use of Output by Other Industries

LARGEST PURCHASING INDUSTRY

The Construction Industry purchases the greatest share of products and services from the Retail Trade Industry Sector in order to produce other goods and services. Purchases of the Retail Trade Industry Sector for final consumption by consumers, businesses, or government are not included here.