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Gary Levy owner of State Street Discount Photo: Amy Root-Donle

Retail's reach gets longer with every year: the industry now accounts for one in five jobs in the Granite State. The growth is staggering compared to the rest of the economy, a trend retailers and state officials attribute to New Hampshire's lack of a sales tax. It stands to outpace other sectors. New Hampshire's retail labor pool of nearly 100,000 will add 20,000 jobs by 2014, said Anita Josten, a research analyst at the state bureau of Economic Labor Market Information in Concord. And the growth has held steady the past couple of years, she said.

Government statistics show a gigantic economic impact in New Hampshire, where the per household retail sales average is $54,270, far above the New England average of $39,289 and the U.S. average of $35,529. As a comparison, the state's median household income was $55,580 in 2004, said Nancy C. Kyle, president of the Retail Merchants Association of New Hampshire. Total sales were $27.2 billion in 2005, the trade group reports. "That's due to our lack of a sales tax," said Kyle. "It's just the cornerstone of our economy."

The state and federal labor estimates on the number of New Hampshire retail employees may be conservative. The Retail Merchants Association of New Hampshire puts the total retail employee base at 139,000. Kyle says the estimate takes into account the very broad nature and definition of retail, including some professional positions.

Portsmouth Mayor Steve Marchand said one of his goals is to expand and promote the definition of retail to cater to year-round residents as well as tourists. Retail plays a major role in the Seacoast economy, and it lends itself well with many of the long-time small businesses, he said. "Retail expands far beyond what a lot of people probably think - the boutiques or clothing stores," said Marchand. "You need the toy shop, clothing store, the restaurants, the gifts and antiques."

The retail industry is more than just clothing stores and gift shops selling trinkets and memories of one's vacation to the Seacoast or White Mountain National Forest. The government categorizes retail as everything from general merchandise and clothing stores to home furnishings and motor vehicle parts and supplies. It includes electronics and appliance stores, gas stations, and health and personal care businesses.

Kyle said the retail industry has long had to battle a public perception that retail jobs are low-paying jobs without a future. She notes it is not uncommon for a retail manager to make $100,000 a year. And a number of jobs offer training and educational opportunities, as well as other perks and benefits.

Though part-time workers accounted for more than a third of the industry's total work force in 2004, Kyle points to surveys that Americans are happy to work just 20 or 30 hours a week because it fits their busy life.

Women make up nearly two-thirds of the retail industry's part-time labor, according to the National Retail Federation, a trade association based in Washington.

National industry estimates show average hourly wages at $12.08 in 2004, with higher wages in some sectors. In electronics and appliance stores, the hourly wage is nearly $17. In furniture and home furnishings stores, the hourly wage is more than $13.

In the Portsmouth area, retail sales managers make an average hourly wage of $19.18, and sales people earn $13.03, according to a 2004 state occupational wage study.

More than 65 percent of all retail employees work in sales or service-related jobs. The industry also employs more than 841,000 people in a variety of professional positions, such as tax specialists, doctors and lawyers, according to the National Retail Federation.

Statistics provided by the trade association also debunk any notion that retail is all big business - the Wal-Marts (with 8,659 employees in New Hampshire) and other retail chains. The numbers show 95 percent of retailers nationwide have only one store, 90 percent record less than $2.5 million in sales, and 20 percent are sole proprietors. Small businesses, those that employ four or fewer people, account for more than half of all retail firms.

Total national retail sales were $3.9 trillion in 2004, and employers paid more than $454 billion in wages.

New Hampshire retailers recorded $20.8 billion in sales and $2 billion in payroll for 98,804 employees in 2002, according to the U.S. Census, based on an economic statistics report compiled and produced every five years. Maine recorded $16.1 billion in sales and $1.6 billion in payroll for 80,251 employees. New Hampshire's retail sales estimate of $27.2 billion in 2005, just three years later, indicates the significant industry growth.

Despite the proliferation of Internet shopping avenues, local storefronts are still a big draw for consumers. Online retail sales totaled $141.4 billion in 2004, and they were projected to jump to $172 billion in 2005. Nearly 40 percent of online sales in 2004 were travel-related purchases and 15 percent were home-related purchases.

In its latest projections, economists and analysts at New Hampshire Employment Security tout the sales tax factor in explaining retail job growth. It is not just that New Hampshire lacks a sales tax, it is that Maine, Massachusetts and Vermont have a sales tax. The cross-border commerce is a major reason for the retail industry's growth in Rockingham County, according to the state's Economic Labor Market Information bureau.

Retail gains more jobs than any other private sector between 2002 and 2012, jumping from 25,507 to 31,430. Other areas for major job growth are, in order, health care and social assistance; administrative and waste services; accommodation and food services; and educational services.