Employment and job demand
Employment trends for sales workers were similar to all service and sales workers in the past decade. Larger employment drops, such as the one during the Covid-19 pandemic, were compensated by faster recovery in the growth years.
Figure 1: Year-to-year employment change for sales workers (2013-2022)
Source: European Labour Force Survey. Employed persons by detailed occupation (ISCO-08 two digit level) [LFSA_EGAI2D__custom_7778289]. Own calculations.
The majority of sales workers (74 per cent) are engaged as shop salespersons. People employed in these jobs conduct sales for wholesale and retail enterprises through physical shops. They acquaint customers with the goods or services to be sold and supervise the activities of shop sales assistants and cashiers.
About 10 per cent of sales workers are engaged as other sales workers. These include jobs such as art and fashion models, promotion demonstrators, door-to-door sellers, food service workers, and call centre agents.
In total, 9 per cent of sales workers are engaged as cashiers and ticket clerks, who work in wholesale and retail stores, restaurants and ticket offices and handle equipment, such as cash registers, optical price scanners, and computers that are used in selling goods and services. A small share of sales workers are engaged as street and market salespersons. These are workers who sell goods from stalls on markets or on streets and prepare and sell hot or cold foods and beverages ready for immediate consumption in streets and public places. They arrange for a regular supply of the products to be sold, keep a record of sales made and stock levels, and prepare food and drinks for sale. Over time the share of employment accounted for by these four occupations has remained more or less stable.
Figure 2: Employment in sales worker jobs (in %)
Source: European Labour Force Survey. Microdata. Own calculations.
Workers assisting people in making their purchases account for more than half of OJAs in the sales workers occupation group. The share of other sales workers and cashiers and ticket clerks is much higher in OJAs than in actual employment. As these occupations have not grown in employment significantly in past years, this could be attributed to higher job turnover, forcing employers to post vacancies more frequently.
For more details on skills demand and job openings for this occupation, please access the Cedefop’s Skills OVATE tool.
Figure 3: Online job advertisements for sales workers (2022, in %)
Source: Skills in Online Job Advertisements indicator based on Cedefop’s Skills OVATE. Own calculations. Note: Online job advertisements are by definition not equivalent to job vacancies. See Beręsewicz (2021) or Napierala et al. (2022).
The Wholesale and retail trade sector employs the majority of sales workers - over 80 per cent in 2021 (see Figure 4). The accommodation and food service activities sector is nowadays the only other sector with a notable share of sales workers. In 2016 it accounted for only 4 per cent of sales worker employment, but this share had doubled to 8 per cent by 2021.
Figure 4: The top sectors employing sales workers (in %)
Source: European Labour Force Survey. Microdata. Own calculations.
As regards the share of sales workers within sectoral employment, these workers form a significant portion of the workforce in the wholesale and retail trade sector. In 2021, sales workers constituted the largest occupation within this sector, accounting for more than 41 per cent of its employment.
The share of employment in each country varies quite much, from less than 3 per cent in Luxemburg to over 11 per cent in Greece (Figure 5).
Figure 5: Sales workers as a share of overall country employment (2021, in %)
Source: European Labour Force Survey. Microdata. Own calculations.
Note: Data for CY, EE, IS, LV and LU have lower reliability because of the small sample size. LFS data for MT are not available.
The workforce is composed mainly of women (65 per cent in 2021). Unlike most other occupations, sales workers are not ageing significantly, with less than 30 per cent of the workforce being 50 years or older (Figure 6).
Figure 6: Sales workforce by age (in %)
Source: European Labour Force Survey. Microdata. Own calculations.
The share of sales workers reporting part-time or temporary employment is relatively larger than the one across all occupations (see Figure 7).
Figure 7: Contract and hiring trends for sales workers (in %)
Source: European Labour Force Survey. Microdata. Own calculations.
Skill needs and future trends
Sales workers ‘ skill needs mainly focus on interpersonal skills and manual tasks, as they deal with clients, assist, and sell items while also coping with lifting heavy objects. Digital tasks and skills are of some significance, but at lower levels compared to all occupations average. Training needs tend to be more about the overall skills upgrade than specifically on the digital ones. People report of fairing to lose their jobs and less work satisfaction to all occupations average.
Figure 8: Skills, training needs and job perception of sales workers (in %)
Source: European Skills and Jobs Survey Microdata. Own calculations.
Unless stated otherwise, it is a share of people reporting that a task/skill is part of their job.
*Always or often
** Share of workers reporting these needs to a great or moderate extent.
Cedefop’s Skills forecast provides a detailed view of the future demand for sales workers. Overall, employment for sales workers is expected to slightly decline over the period 2022 to 2035. This means that, compared to 2022, there will be about 546 thousand less sales worker jobs.
Future employment growth will vary by country. Figure 9 compares the employment growth experienced over the relatively recent past to that projected to take place in the future. Employment in four countries grew in the past decade and it is forecast to do so in the next decade as well. Spain and Romania are among those with the highest past and expected future growths, while especially Estonia and Lithuania represent the opposite trend.
Figure 9: Past and expected future employment trend of sale workers
Source: European Labour Force Survey. Microdata. Cedefop Skills Forecast. Note: Data for CY, EE, IS, LV and LU have lower reliability because of the small sample size. LFS data for MT are not available.
New job creation or destruction is, however, not the main driver behind job demand. Most job openings are a result of people leaving them for other opportunities, or those leaving the labour market completely (retirements; parent leave, etc.). This replacement demand is frequently much more substantial, being estimated at 6.8 million. It is, in fact far higher than the projected job loss (Figure 10).
Overall, when future job loss is added to the replacement demand, an estimated 6.2 million job openings for sales workers will need to be filled between 2022 and 2035.
Figure 10: Future job openings for sales workers (000s)
Source: Future job openings indicator based on the Cedefop Skills Forecast. Own calculations.
More than 60 per cent of sales workers held medium-level qualifications in 2021 (i.e. at ISCED levels 3 or 4). This is not projected to change much by 2035. The share of workers with low levels of qualification (ISCED level 2 or lower) is projected to fall from 20 per cent in 2022 to 12 per cent in 2035, while the share of highly qualified workers (i.e. those qualified at ISCED level 5 and over) is projected to increase from 17 per cent to 26 per cent over the same period.