Retail Sector Employment Statistics

• Approximately 5 million people worked in retail sales.
• The median rate of pay for retail workers is approximately $10.00 per hour.
• Almost 12% of all jobs available are involved in the retail industry.
• Sales managers in the retail industry make an average of over $36,000 per year.
• The clothing and accessory sector of the retail industry is one of the largest. In the clothing retail business, 31% of all workers are under the age of 24, which is a high percentage of young workers. 29% of jobs in this part of the industry are only part-time though, helping to account for those “young” numbers – many high school and college students get jobs in this part of the industry after school.
• Grocery stores make up another large sector of the retail industry. About 2.5 million workers hold jobs in grocery stores, and 31% of them work part-time. Again, many of the workers in this sector are young – 32% are in their early twenties. There are many types of jobs in grocery retail, but the largest availability by far is for cashiers, which make up 34% of all employees.
• Management, business, and financial jobs make up only about 2% of all jobs in the retail industry.