U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Industries at a Glance

Health and Personal Care Stores: NAICS 446

About the Health and Personal Care Stores subsector

The health and personal care stores subsector is part of the retail trade sector.

Industries in the Health and Personal Care Stores subsector retail health and personal care merchandise from fixed point-of-sale locations. Establishments in this subsector are characterized principally by the products they retail, and some health and personal care stores may have specialized staff trained in dealing with the products. Staff may include pharmacists, opticians, and other professionals engaged in retailing, advising customers, and/or fitting the product sold to the customer's needs.

North American Industry Classification System

The health and personal care stores subsector consists of a single industry group, Health and Personal Care Stores: NAICS 4461.

Workforce Statistics

This section provides information relating to employment in health and personal care 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	Feb. 2013	Mar. 2013	Apr. 2013	May 2013
Employment (in thousands)
Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)	1,024.1	1,026.2	(P) 1,031.7	(P) 1,029.9
Employment, production and nonsupervisory employees	829.8	830.0	(P) 837.0
Layoffs
Mass layoff events	(1) -	7	3
Initial claimants for unemployment benefits	(1) -	470	184
Footnotes (1) Data do not meet BLS or state agency disclosure standards. (P) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics)

Extended Mass Layoffs


Data series	2nd quarter 2012	3rd quarter 2012	4th quarter 2012	1st quarter 2013
Extended mass layoff events	(1) -	(1) -	(P) 3	(P) 5
Separations	(1) -	(1) -	(P) 430	(P) 406
Initial claimants	(1) -	(1) -	(P) 287	(P) 412
Footnotes (1) Data do not meet BLS or state agency disclosure standards. (P) Preliminary

(Source: Mass Layoff Statistics)

Employment by Occupation


Data series	Employment, 2012
Cashiers	178,530
First-line supervisors/managers of retail sales workers	93,450
Pharmacists	123,020
Pharmacy aides	28,090
Pharmacy technicians	188,260
Retail salespersons	144,300

(Source: Occupational Employment Statistics)

Projections

For projected (future) employment estimates, see the National Employment Matrix, which includes employment estimates by industry and occupation for health and personal care 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 health and personal care stores.

Earnings and Hours of All Employees


Data series	Jan. 2013	Feb. 2013	Mar. 2013	Apr. 2013
Average hourly earnings	$21.52	$21.57	$21.70	(P) $21.67
Average weekly hours	30.3	30.4	30.4	(P) 30.3
Footnotes (P) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings and Hours of Production and Nonsupervisory Employees


Data series	Jan. 2013	Feb. 2013	Mar. 2013	Apr. 2013
Average hourly earnings	$17.19	$17.17	$17.25	(P) $17.29
Average weekly hours	29.4	29.5	29.7	(P) 29.7
Footnotes (P) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings by Occupation


Data series	Wages, 2012
	Hourly		Annual
	Median	Mean	Median	Mean
Cashiers	$9.20	$9.99	$19,130	$20,770
First-line supervisors/managers of retail sales workers	$17.92	$19.99	$37,270	$41,580
Pharmacists	$56.65	$56.24	$117,840	$116,980
Pharmacy aides	$10.12	$10.64	$21,040	$22,130
Pharmacy technicians	$13.48	$13.91	$28,030	$28,940
Retail salespersons	$10.08	$11.75	$20,960	$24,450

(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 health and personal care 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	13		11	11
Rate of injury and illness cases per 100 full-time workers
Total recordable cases	2.2	2.3	2.8	2.2
Cases involving days away from work, job restriction, or transfer	0.8	1.0	1.1	0.9
Cases involving days away from work	0.5	0.6	0.7	0.6
Cases involving days of job transfer or restriction	0.3		0.4	0.3
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	Feb. 2013	Mar. 2013	Apr. 2013	May 2013
Producer price index	(P) 141.7	(P) 142.1	(P) 141.6	(P) 144.1
Percent change from previous month	(P) 0.9%	(P) 0.3%	(P) -0.4%	(P) 1.8%
Footnotes (P) Preliminary

(Source: Producer Price Indexes)

Workplace Trends

This section presents data on the number of establishments in health and personal care 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	4th quarter 2011	1st quarter 2012	2nd quarter 2012	3rd quarter 2012
Number of establishments
Private industry	98,275	(P) 99,577	(P) 100,014	(P) 100,834
Local government	8	(P) 8	(P) 8	(P) 10
Federal government
Footnotes (P) Preliminary

(Source: Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages)

Productivity


Data series	2008	2009	2010	2011
Labor productivity index, output per hour	112.663	115.775	116.340	116.368
Percent change from previous year	0.4	2.8	0.5	0.0
Labor index, total labor hours	106.501	103.345	103.519	105.029
Percent change from previous year	1.5	-3.0	0.2	1.5
Output index	119.988	119.647	120.434	122.220
Percent change from previous year	1.9	-0.3	0.7	1.5
Unit labor costs index	116.950	119.182	119.172	121.135
Percent change from previous year	1.2	1.9	0.0	1.6