New-Car Dealers Account for 86K Ohio Jobs

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – New-car dealers accounted for nearly 86,000 direct and indirect jobs in Ohio last year, a study by the Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Center for Automotive Research estimates.

The study, “Contribution of New-Car Dealerships to the Economies of All 50 States and the United States,” highlights the economic impact of new-car dealerships. It encompasses state and national employment data as well as taxes paid by employees and collected or generated by dealerships.

In Ohio, the state’s 709 new-car dealerships employed an estimated average of 58 people per dealership – or 41,049 total — with a total payroll of more than $2.03 billion, the study found. That includes positions in sales, finance, management, service and repair.

The average annual salary of an employee working at an Ohio new-car dealership was just under $50,000, according to an analysis from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the National Automobile Dealers Association.

Companies that provide goods and services to dealerships accounted for an estimated 11,591, according to the study. Another 33,069 people were employed in jobs at places where direct and indirect employees spend their money.

Nationally, employee compensation and productivity at new-car dealerships increased across all job positions in 2014, according to the National Automobile Dealers Association’s 2015 Dealership Workforce Study.

In 2014, the median weekly income for all employees at U.S. new-car dealerships increased 5.1% to $1,026. On average, dealership employees earned nearly 29% more than other employees in the private-sector workforce, according to a comparison of dealership salaries and 2014 fourth-quarter median weekly earnings of all U.S. employees, as compiled by BLS.

“The bottom line is that new-car dealerships offer well-paying jobs with benefits,” said Steven Szakaly, NADA chief economist. “Jobs at new-car dealerships have continued to outpace average U.S. wages, and are some of the best-paying jobs available.”

The estimated amount of federal ($629 million) and state ($57 million) income taxes paid by direct, indirect and expenditure-inducted employees in Ohio in 2014 totaled more than more than $687 million, according to the Center for Automotive Research study.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.