Factoids

Furniture Industry Wages Sales and Related Occupations

October 4, 2019  by Laurie Northington in General   

Wages across the U.S. job market have been slow to grow post-recession, despite a healthy economy and the lowest unemployment rates in decades and the furniture industry is no exception. The steady increase of furniture and home furnishings sales over the last 10 years has been slower to hit employees working in the stores, but in recent years many occupations have finally started to see an upturn in wage growth.

Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ March 2019 release of “Occupational Employment Statistics,” this is the third factoid in a series of five factoids detailing employee wages in furniture stores and home furnishings stores across the variety of occupations.

Sales and Related Occupations

Sales and related occupations are among lowest paying jobs in furniture stores and home furnishings stores. These have also been the slowest in earnings growth. In both distribution channels, cashiers earn a median hourly rate below $12. Wages continually dropped for cashiers through 2012 to 2015, before growing in recent years – most likely due to minimum wages going up in many cities and states. Retail salespersons make more in furniture stores with a median hourly wage of $13.94, compared to $12.40 in home furnishings stores. The most startling statistic is that between 2012 and 2018, earning for retail salespersons in furniture stores grew only 6.5 percent and 5.9 percent in home furnishings stores.

Source: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Occupational Employment Statistics,” released March 29, 2019.

Showing 1 Comment

Robert Saquet    5 years ago

Retail salespersons make more in furniture stores with a median hourly wage of $13.94.....This is ridiculous. No wonder customers are flocking to on-line furniture sources. At $13.94 (median wage) furniture stores are not going to find professionals to help customers. If you want knowledgeable sales people who have some professional training you have to raise that median wage and give an incentive to work with customers. Which brings me to the second reason people will go on line to shop--stores are understaffed. No matter how beautiful the displays are the customer still needs personal contact to learn more about the product. Store owners think they are saving money by paying low wages and cutting back on sales staff--but all this drives the consumer to an on line source that is much more helpful and informative. There are enough actual reasons why people shop on line--open 24/7, unlimited product selection, convenience, etc....store owners should not be giving them more reasons to avoid their stores.