Merchant Wholesalers, Nondurable Goods: NAICS 424

About the Merchant Wholesalers, Nondurable Goods subsector

The merchant wholesalers, nondurable goods subsector is part of the wholesale trade sector.

Industries in the Merchant Wholesalers, Nondurable Goods subsector sell nondurable goods to other businesses. Nondurable goods are items generally with a normal life expectancy of less than three years. Nondurable goods merchant wholesale trade establishments are engaged in wholesaling products, such as paper and paper products, chemicals and chemical products, drugs, textiles and textile products, apparel, footwear, groceries, farm products, petroleum and petroleum products, alcoholic beverages, books, magazines, newspapers, flowers and nursery stock, and tobacco products.

North American Industry Classification System

The merchant wholesalers, nondurable goods subsector consists of these industry groups:

  • Paper and Paper Product Merchant Wholesalers: NAICS 4241
  • Drugs and Druggists' Sundries Merchant Wholesalers: NAICS 4242
  • Apparel, Piece Goods, and Notions Merchant Wholesalers: NAICS 4243
  • Grocery and Related Product Wholesalers: NAICS 4244
  • Farm Product Raw Material Merchant Wholesalers: NAICS 4245
  • Chemical and Allied Products Merchant Wholesalers: NAICS 4246
  • Petroleum and Petroleum Products Merchant Wholesalers: NAICS 4247
  • Beer, Wine, and Distilled Alcoholic Beverage Merchant Wholesalers: NAICS 4248
  • Miscellaneous Nondurable Goods Merchant Wholesalers: NAICS 4249

Workforce Statistics

This section provides information relating to employment in merchant wholesalers, nondurable goods. These data are obtained from employer or establishment surveys. The following tables present an overview of the industry including the number of jobs, mass layoffs, data for occupations common to the industry, and projections of occupational employment change.

Employment and Layoffs

Data series Back
data
Mar.
2008
Apr.
2008
May
2008
Jun.
2008

Employment (in thousands)

 

Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)

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2,087.5 2,086.9 (P) 2,089.4 (P) 2,087.2

Employment, nonsupervisory workers

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1,689.3 1,698.3 (P) 1,714.6  

Layoffs

 

Mass layoff events

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10 11 6 10

Initial claimants for unemployment benefits

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649 1,084 661 627

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics, Mass Layoff Statistics)

Extended Mass Layoffs

Data series Back
data
2nd quarter
2007
3rd quarter
2007
4th quarter
2007
1st quarter
2008

Extended mass layoff events

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12 11 (P) 15 (P) 10

Separations

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2,382 1,456 (P) 1,562 (P) 1,079

Initial claimants

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1,434 1,008 (P) 1,398 (P) 736

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Mass Layoff Statistics)

Employment by Occupation

Data series Employment,
2007

Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand

182,370

Sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, except technical and scientific products

287,430

Sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, technical and scientific products

68,110

Shipping, receiving, and traffic clerks

61,000

Truck drivers, heavy and tractor-trailer

134,680

(Source: Occupational Employment Statistics)

Projections

For projected (future) employment estimates, see the National Employment Matrix, which includes employment estimates by industry and occupation for merchant wholesalers, nondurable goods.

(Source: Office of Occupational Statistics and Employment Projections)

Earnings and Hours

This section presents data on employee earnings and weekly hours. The latest industry averages of hourly earnings and weekly hours for production or nonsupervisory employees are shown. In addition, recent hourly and annual earnings are shown for occupations commonly found in merchant wholesalers, nondurable goods.

Earnings and Hours of Production Workers

Data series Back
data
Feb.
2008
Mar.
2008
Apr.
2008
May
2008

Average hourly earnings

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$18.01 $18.09 $18.12 (P) $18.01

Average weekly hours

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37.8 38.4 37.9 (P) 38.3

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings by Occupation

Data series Wages, 2007
Hourly Annual
Median Mean Median Mean

Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand

$10.83 $11.54 $22,530 $24,000

Sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, except technical and scientific products

$22.90 $27.35 $47,620 $56,880

Sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, technical and scientific products

$32.88 $36.08 $68,400 $75,040

Shipping, receiving, and traffic clerks

$13.18 $13.76 $27,400 $28,610

Truck drivers, heavy and tractor-trailer

$17.59 $18.25 $36,580 $37,960

(Source: Occupational Employment Statistics)

Work-related Fatalities, Injuries, and Illnesses

This section presents data for the industry on the number of workplace fatalities and the rates of workplace injuries and illnesses per 100 full-time workers in merchant wholesalers, nondurable goods. An injury or illness is considered to be work-related if an event or exposure in the work environment either caused or contributed to the resulting condition or significantly aggravated a pre-existing condition.

Table is temporarily unavailable.

(Source: Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities)

Prices

This section provides industry-specific pricing information. The producer price index measures the percentage change in prices that domestic producers receive for goods and services. The prices included in the producer price index are from the first commercial transaction.

Data series Back
data
Mar.
2008
Apr.
2008
May
2008
Jun.
2008

Producer price index

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(P) 114.0 (P) 115.6 (P) 124.0 (P) 119.1

Percent change from previous month

 

(P) -1.1% (P) 1.4% (P) 7.3% (P) -4.0%

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Producer Price Indexes)

Workplace Trends

This section presents data on the number of establishments in merchant wholesalers, nondurable goods. Also included in this section is information on productivity, presented as the rate of change in output per hour of workers in the industry.

Establishments

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data
4th quarter
2006
1st quarter
2007
2nd quarter
2007
3rd quarter
2007

Number of establishments

 

Private industry

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141,756 (P) 141,154 (P) 141,422 (P) 141,611

Local government

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8 (P) 9 (P) 9 (P) 9

State government

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Federal government

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Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages)

Productivity

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data
2003 2004 2005 2006

Labor productivity index, output per hour

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110.495 113.597 114.341 117.438

Percent change from previous year

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4.5 2.8 0.7 2.7

Labor index, total labor hours

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97.611 96.197 96.448 97.934

Percent change from previous year

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-3.2 -1.4 0.3 1.5

Output index

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107.855 109.277 110.279 115.012

Percent change from previous year

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1.2 1.3 0.9 4.3

Unit labor costs index

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126.651 128.425 132.694 134.071

Percent change from previous year

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1.5 1.4 3.3 1.0

(Source: Productivity and Costs)

Other BLS Resources

Career Guide to Industries

To learn about careers from an industry perspective, see the Career Guide to Industries.

 

Data extracted on: July 23, 2008