New research from the Central Statistics Office shows that the Retail Economy here generated turnover of €57.3 billion and had almost 48,500 active enterprises in 2020.
€38.8 billion (67.6%) of this turnover came from Retail Trade, while Motor Trades generated turnover of €13.8 billion (24%) and Food & Beverage Service Activities accounted for the remaining €4.7 billion (8.2%).
Today's CSO research also shows there were almost 373,200 people working in the sector with almost 225,000 people working in Retail Trade.
A further 112,100 worked in Food & Beverage Service Activities and more than 36,100 were engaged in Motor Trades.
The CSO noted that while the almost 205,000 women employed in the Retail Economy in the first quarter of 2022 represented 57% of those in employment, they accounted for 69% of part-time employees but 47% of the total number of full-time employees.
Women accounted for 71% of all part-time workers in Retail Trade, while they made up two-thirds of all part-time workers in Food & Beverage Service Activities.
Today's figures also show that the overall average weekly wage in the Irish economy in the first quarter of 2022 was €885.33 per week.
The average weekly wage stood at €737.28 in Motor Trades, €484.53 in Retail Trade and €378.52 in Food & Beverage Service Activities.
The average number of hours worked was 36.9 hours a week in Motor Trades, but it was much lower in the other two sectors.
Average hours worked was 27 hours in Retail Trade and 25.4 hours in Food & Beverage Service Activities, where there were greater proportions of staff working part-time.
The CSO noted that Friday was the most active day for shopping, followed by Saturday, while Sunday was the least active.
Meanwhile, labour costs in Food & Beverage Service Activities, as a proportion of total business costs, stood at 31.9%. This was far higher than in Motor Trades (7% of total costs) or in Retail Trade (14.6% of total costs).
