McLEAN, Va. -

As sales of new and used vehicles continue to gain steam, so is the momentum for franchised dealerships bringing on more workers.

Employment figures moved higher for the third year in a row, according to the annual report from the National Automobile Dealers Association

In 2012, the average dealership in operation employed 55 people and total dealership employment increased to an estimated 963,400 employees from 933,500 in 2011. Those figures came from NADA Data 2013.

“Total dealership employment plateaued at 1.1 million before falling below 1 million in 2009 as the recession commenced,” the report said.

“The number and type of employees vary significantly among dealerships depending on store characteristics such as size, location, makes handled, and distribution of sales among departments,” the report went on to mentioned.

Here is the breakdown of total franchised dealership employment in 2012:

—New- and used-vehicle salespeople: 195,800
—Technicians: 254,200
—Service and parts workers (other than technicians): 290,200
—Supervisors, general office workers and others: 223,200

NADA determined the average franchised dealership in 2012 had an annual payroll of $2.9 million. The total payroll for all dealerships combined was $51.6 billion.

Association officials calculated that franchised dealerships provided, on average, 12.3 percent of total retail payroll in their respective states.

The following charts provided in the report offer statistics by state.