Research & Reports

In 2023, tens of thousands of retail workers and their families bore the brunt of poor corporate planning and decision-making. Financial blunders and missteps by company executives pushed a number of retailers into bankruptcy, resulting in store closures and mass layoffs across the country.

Of the 16 million people who work retail jobs in the United States, 1.8 million identify as Latinx. Though these workers represent nearly 20% of the total retail workforce, they face occupational segregation and earn less than their white counterparts in the same positions.

Across the country, warehouse associates with disabilities face multiple hurdles in receiving the type of reasonable accommodations that would allow them to perform their jobs safely and successfully. It’s time for #PrimeAccommodations.

For years, retailers have capitalized on the popularity of Pride. But how are they treating their LGBTQIA+ workers?

America’s retailers depend on underpaid women while men hold the retail industry’s top jobs and make decisions about pay and benefits for millions of families across the country.

For people living in states that have not approved Medicaid expansion, even a low-paid, hourly job will make them ineligible for Medicaid benefits. But they can’t afford expensive employer-sponsored plans. 2.2 million people are being left behind.

The retail industry runs on Black labor – while underpaying and exploiting the Black workers powering its profits. These giant corporations perpetuate inequity through occupational segregation and the wage gap.

As abortion bans proliferate across the country, people who work in retail are particularly at risk: Frontline positions like cashiers are underpaid, lack benefits, and are disproportionately young women of color. This report takes a look at how retail associates are affected and how America’s top 10 retailers contributed to this crisis.

Walmart’s health and safety response to the coronavirus pandemic has been dangerously delayed and wholly inadequate. As this brief reveals, at every critical stage, Walmart failed to fully implement vital public health guidance, and the actions they did take were delayed and insufficient.

Surveying 1,100 retail workers employed across major employers and within key retail economies, we launched the first national opinion polling of the retail workforce. This report offers insights from retail workers on the technologies currently used in their stores, as well as their own predictions on the opportunities and threats presented by technology.