Though sales rep turnover continues to be an issue for automotive dealerships, weekly earnings continue to rise above most other private sector businesses as the dealership workforce continues to expand.

NADA’s third annual industry report on the dealership workforce showed dealerships were adding new employees, paying above-average wages and showed weekly earnings growth last year.

The 2014 Dealership Workforce Study Industry Report, produced in partnership with ESI Trends and based on 2013 data, showed total dealership employment grew 3.4 percent and topped 1 million people.

But men continue to dominate this workforce, and the gender gap remained unchanged.

Of active payroll employees, 17.7 percent were women, consistent with the previous year’s data, NADA reported.

However, the dealership workforce is seeing more of one demographic: Generation Y employees. Of new hires last year, 47 percent were Gen Y, who now make up 27 percent of the dealership workforce. This is up 4 percent from 2012 rates.

The jump in Gen Y employees perhaps can be contributed in part to the improving work/life balance in dealerships.

The percentage of dealerships that schedule employees to work more than 45 hours per week has dropped significantly over the past three years. Now, only 13 percent of dealerships surveyed schedule sales consultants to work more than 50 hours, and 16 percent schedule service advisers for those hours.

Weekly earnings results showed more positive movement, as well, as weekly median earnings came in at $976 in 2013. This is up 25 percent from the median weekly earnings of $782 in the U.S. private sector workforce.

That said, median weekly earnings growth for dealerships, in particular, slowed down last year, growing by only 1.3 percent, slower than the 3.7 percent rate in 2012.

Last year, turnover remained a problem for dealerships, with rates moving up slightly from 35 to 36 percent. Rates still remain below the national average of 42 percent for private sector employees.

“The Report shows a growth industry with strong earning opportunity in a changing work environment,” said Ted Kraybill, ESI Trends president and founder and designer of the study. “And although the industry is often characterized as a ‘high-turnover’ work environment, actual turnover at new-car dealerships is significantly less than the private sector average.” 

Sales consultants continue to see the highest turnover rates at dealerships, with 66 percent turnover, marking a year-over-year increase of 4 percent.

“Only at the sales consultant position does turnover exceed the national average, but many dealerships are taking important steps to address that challenge, such as reorganizing their staffing models to reduce total hours and focusing on team-based incentives,” Kraybill said.