Learn about the types of people who become retail salespeople. This page goes into detail about the employment, gender, and ethnic ratios of the workplace.
Employment Type Mix, 2024
31% of retail salespeople work in full-time roles while 69% work part-time.
Gender Mix By Career Interest, 2024
This graph shows the distribution of females and males that are interested in becoming a retail salesperson. Four or five star ratings on CareerExplorer indicate interest.
More men than women are interested in becoming retail salespeople at a ratio of 1.15 to 1.
Actual Gender Mix, 2024
69% of retail salespeople are female and 31% are male.
Gender Bias, 2024
This is one of the most compelling statistics we collect. Gender bias shows the difference between gender interest in being a retail salesperson and the actual gender mix of people in the career.
If there is a significant difference, then it means there is a gender imbalance between those interested in becoming a retail salesperson and those who end up becoming one.
In this case there are significantly more men interested in becoming a retail salesperson than those actually working as one. It is hard to pinpoint the exact reasons why, but there are likely various forces at play, from changing interests over time to societal norms and biases.
Ethnic Mix, 2019
The largest ethnic group of retail salespeople are White, making up 63% of the population. The next highest segments are Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish and Black or African American, making up 10% and 10% respectively.