The 2024 Retail Trade Yearbook is the most comprehensive analysis of the Austrian retail sector. It provides data on the sector’s structure, trends in turnover and staffing levels and profitability.

According to the new 2024 Retail Trade Yearbook, the Austrian retail sector employs around 619,800 people. This represents 20 % of all employees in the market-oriented economy as a whole. Compared with 2019, the pre-pandemic year, the number of employees has thus risen by 12,000. With 351,200 employees, the retail sector is the largest employer within the trade sector, followed by the wholesale sector with 194,900 and the motor vehicle trade (including repairs) with around 73,700 employees.

Around 36 % of retail workers are employed on a part-time basis. The proportion of part-time workers currently stands at 47 % in the retail sector, 21 % in the wholesale sector and 17 % in the motor vehicle trade.

KMU Forschung Austria has been producing the Retail Trade Yearbook analysis annually since 2023.