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Auto Dealers Help Drive Strong Economy, NADA Says

27 July 1998

Auto Dealers Help Drive Strong Economy, NADA Says

    WASHINGTON, July 27 -- Franchised new car and truck
dealerships are a significant force in the nation's retail economy, according
to the National Automobile Dealers Association's 1998 NADA Data, which will be
published with the August edition of Automotive Executive magazine.
    New car and truck dealerships accounted for nearly 20 percent of total
retail U.S. sales, selling a record $508 billion in goods and services in
1997.
    Employment at dealerships also reached an all-time high, rising to
1,056,400 or 5 percent of the nation's retail workforce.  Total U.S.
dealership payrolls were $37.4 billion and represented 12 percent of the
nation's total retail payroll.  The average individual dealership had 47
employees and an annual payroll of more than $1.65 million.
    NADA Data also includes information on the economic contribution of
dealerships in individual states.  Highlights include:

    -- California dealerships had the highest retail sales, at $53.6 billion.
       As a percentage of total state retail sales, Texas dealerships topped
       the list, at 23.9 percent.
    -- Nevada dealership employees were the best-paid, with average weekly
       earnings of $840.  The national average for all dealership employees
       was $680.
    -- North Dakota's dealership payroll was the highest percentage of total
       state retail payroll, at 14.6 percent.
    -- Oklahoma and Maryland dealerships employed the greatest percentage of
       total state retail employees, at 5.6 percent each.

    The National Automobile Dealers Association represents more than 19,500
franchised new car and truck dealers holding nearly 40,000 separate
franchises, domestic and import.