Dive Brief:

• Larger retailers with several layers of employment possibilities pay well when compared to smaller retail stores, according to a study by the private nonprofit nonpartisan economic research organization, the National Bureau of Economic Research. 

• Workers with a high school education earned 15% more at larger retailers (1,000 or more employees) than smaller ones; those with a college education earned 25% more than at smaller ones. Larger retailers are also more likely to hire people with a college education.

• Regardless of education or size of the retailer, women suffer a 20% wage gap in retail compared to male employees.

Dive Insight:

While many public policy makers and economists bemoan the flight of U.S. manufacturing overseas, this research shows that large retailers do provide financially good opportunities, at least for the college-educated, managerial layer in their company hierarchies.

The problem, of course, is that many manufacturing jobs are a way for less-educated workers to make a living wage. The study also shows how important retailers are to the financial stability of the American workforce.