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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
America’S Biggest Low-Wage Industry: Continuity And Change In Retail Jobs, Françoise Carré, Chris Tilly
America’S Biggest Low-Wage Industry: Continuity And Change In Retail Jobs, Françoise Carré, Chris Tilly
Center for Social Policy Publications
For those concerned with job quality in the United States, the retail industry commands attention. Retail is not only the largest low-wage industry in the country’s economy; it is the largest industry, period. It generates numerous entry level jobs for those with limited formal training. Hourly wages of nonsupervisory workers in retail languish at about three-quarters the national average. Retail is a very important employer of young workers. Its workforce is also disproportionately female. Women are concentrated in particular retail sub-sectors and some minority groups seem to remain employed in retail over time. At the same time, retail jobs—at least, …
Continuity And Change In Low-Wage Work In U.S. Retail Trade, Françoise Carré, Chris Tilly, Brandynn Holgate
Continuity And Change In Low-Wage Work In U.S. Retail Trade, Françoise Carré, Chris Tilly, Brandynn Holgate
Center for Social Policy Publications
Retail work is undergoing significant change in the United States. To explore these changes, and their impacts in terms of turnover, skill levels, and other key workforce variables, we conducted 18 case studies of retail businesses. We spoke to employees from top corporate executives to frontline employees, visited stores, and reviewed HR statistics. This paper summarizes major findings from the study.
We start by stating the study’s key questions, principal findings from public data sources, and the study design. We then review field findings on patterns in job quality across four dimensions (schedules, compensation, duties, and turnover/training/mobility). We identify two …