Hourly earnings of nonsupervisory workers in, clothing, accessory, and general merchandise stores are well below the average for
all workers in private industry. This reflects both the high proportion of part-time and less experienced workers in these stores,
and the fact that even experienced workers receive relatively low pay compared with experienced workers in many other industries (table 2).
Earnings in selected occupations in clothing, accessory, and general merchandise stores appear in table 3.
Table 2. Average earnings of nonsupervisory workers in clothing, accessory, and general merchandise stores, 2002.
| Industry segment |
Weekly |
Hourly |
| |
|
|
| Total, private industry |
$506 |
$14.95 |
| |
|
|
| Total, general merchandise stores |
285 |
9.88 |
Warehouse clubs and supercenters |
309 |
9.54 |
Other general merchandise stores |
293 |
9.44 |
Discount department stores |
289 |
9.42 |
Department stores |
280 |
10.20 |
| |
|
|
| Total, clothing and clothing accessory stores |
261 |
10.40 |
Men's clothing stores |
325 |
11.66 |
Family clothing stores |
256 |
10.27 |
Shoe stores |
224 |
9.19 |
Women's clothing stores |
214 |
10.22 |
Many employers permit workers to buy merchandise at a discount. Smaller stores usually offer limited
employee benefits. In larger stores, benefits are more comparable with those offered by employers in other
industries and can include vacation and sick leave, health and life insurance, profit sharing, and pension plans.
Unionization in this industry is limited. Only about 3 percent of workers were union members or covered by
union contracts, compared with 15 percent in all industries.
Table 3. Median hourly earnings of the largest occupations in clothing, accessory, and general merchandise stores, 2002
| Occupation |
General
merchandise
Stores |
Apparel and
accessory
stores |
All
industries |
| General and operations managers |
$22.15 |
$22.11 |
$32.80 |
| First-line supervisors/managers of retail sales workers |
12.71 |
13.66 |
14.28 |
| Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks |
11.68 |
10.94 |
13.16 |
| Office clerks, general |
10.46 |
9.86 |
10.71 |
| Shipping, receiving, and traffic clerks |
8.68 |
9.09 |
11.26 |
| Stock clerks and order fillers |
8.34 |
8.10 |
9.26 |
| Retail salespersons |
8.04 |
7.84 |
8.51 |
| Counter and rental clerks |
7.80 |
8.24 |
8.31 |
| Cashiers |
7.41 |
7.40 |
7.41 |
| Packers and packagers, hand |
7.19 |
7.28 |
8.03 |
|
