Retail store associates have the worst job in the US right now as the industry faces a series of post-pandemic headwinds, a US News & World Report analysis found. The worst Job in the US is working in retail.
The magazine ranked 190 jobs across 17 categories on criteria including growth potential, work-life balance, and pay. Retail salespeople ranked lowest, with a median salary of just $29,120 in 2021 according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, and low scores on other criteria like job market and future growth potential. Cashiers, such as those working at convenience and grocery stores, had the second-worst job in the analysis.
Retail companies are grappling with higher costs and cash-strapped shoppers. Some have been forced to shutter underperforming stores and deeply discount overstocked merchandise.
A recent study from U.S. News & World Report ranked 190 jobs in order to identify the best jobs in the U.S. today. Front-line retail employment did not land high on the list. The role of the retail salesperson is the worst job to have in the country, a Bloomberg article analyzing the jobs study found. The position ranked low in such categories as salary, job market, and future growth potential. Store cashiers were given the second-worst job rating.
While the U.S. News & World Report study does not speak well of the prospects for those on retail’s front line, another recent survey finds more to recommend about other positions in the retail world.
But not every retailer is set up to allow employees to reach those levels.
A recent Harvard Business Review study explored why workers get stuck, given the broad benefits of companies delivering consistent employee advancement. The study delineated six different categories of companies that underperform in employee advancement. Retailers fell under the following three categories:
- “Fast and flimsy”: defined as companies that bring a lot of employees in with no experience and promote them fast early on (for instance into low-level managerial roles), but do not invest in training, causing employees to quickly stall out.
- “Churn and burn”: Companies that fail to provide opportunities to advance or to teach skills, prompting employees to leave quickly.
- “Low-value add”: Jobs where employees neither advance in their role or in the role that they moved to in their subsequent job, so they jump from an entry-level job at one retailer to the same entry-level job at the next.
Of the top five best jobs in the U.S. News & World Report study, two were in technology, with software developer and information security analyst in the number one and five spots respectively. The other three were in healthcare with nurse practitioners coming in second, medical and health services managers in third, and physician assistants coming in fourth.
