An official website of the United States government
United States Department of Labor
United States Department of Labor
The .gov means it's official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information,
make sure you're on a federal government site.
The site is secure.
The
https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any
information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.
Industries at a Glance
SHARE ON:
Wholesale Trade: NAICS 42
On This Page
About the Wholesale Trade sector
The wholesale trade sector is part of the trade, transportation, and utilities supersector.
The Wholesale Trade sector comprises establishments engaged in wholesaling merchandise, generally without transformation, and rendering services incidental to the sale of merchandise. The merchandise described in this sector includes the outputs of agriculture, mining, manufacturing, and certain information industries, such as publishing.
The wholesaling process is an intermediate step in the distribution of merchandise. Wholesalers are organized to sell or arrange the purchase or sale of (a) goods for resale (i.e., goods sold to other wholesalers or retailers), (b) capital or durable nonconsumer goods, and (c) raw and intermediate materials and supplies used in production.
Wholesalers sell merchandise to other businesses and normally operate from a warehouse or office. These warehouses and offices are characterized by having little or no display of merchandise. In addition, neither the design nor the location of the premises is intended to solicit walk-in traffic. Wholesalers do not normally use advertising directed to the general public. Customers are generally reached initially via telephone, in-person marketing, or by specialized advertising that may include Internet and other electronic means. Follow-up orders are either vendor-initiated or client-initiated, generally based on previous sales, and typically exhibit strong ties between sellers and buyers. In fact, transactions are often conducted between wholesalers and clients that have long-standing business relationships.
North American Industry Classification System
The wholesale trade sector consists of these subsectors:
- Merchant Wholesalers, Durable Goods: NAICS 423
- Merchant Wholesalers, Nondurable Goods: NAICS 424
- Wholesale Electronic Markets and Agents and Brokers: NAICS 425
Workforce Statistics
This section provides information relating to employment and unemployment in wholesale trade. While most data are obtained from employer or establishment surveys, information on industry unemployment comes from a national survey of households. The following tables present an overview of the industry including the number of jobs, the unemployment rate of those previously employed in the industry, job openings and labor turnover, union membership and representation, gross job gains and losses, data for occupations common to the industry, and projections of occupational employment change.
Employment, Unemployment, and Openings, Hires, and Separations
| Data series | Back data |
Aug. 2024 |
Sep. 2024 |
Oct. 2024 |
Nov. 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Employment (in thousands) |
|||||
Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted) |
|
6,182.1 | 6,184.5 | (p)6,188.6 | (p)6,190.2 |
Employment, production and nonsupervisory employees (seasonally adjusted) |
|
4,895.2 | 4,893.8 | (p)4,901.6 | (p)4,899.0 |
Unemployment |
|||||
|
|
1.6% | 1.0% | 3.2% | 3.4% | |
Job openings, hires, and separations (in thousands) |
|||||
|
|
188 | 176 | (p)146 | ||
|
|
135 | 135 | (p)149 | ||
|
|
152 | 126 | (p)121 | ||
|
Footnotes |
|||||
(Source: Current Employment Statistics, Current Population Survey, Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey)
Union Membership and Representation
| Data series | Back data |
2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Union membership and representation |
|||||
Members of unions (percent of wage and salary workers) |
|
4.3% | 3.7% | 3.3% | 4.7% |
Represented by unions (percent of wage and salary workers) |
|
4.7% | 4.5% | 3.9% | 5.1% |
(Source: Current Population Survey)
Dynamic Changes in Employment
| Data series | Back data |
2nd quarter 2023 |
3rd quarter 2023 |
4th quarter 2023 |
1st quarter 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dynamic changes in employment (in thousands) |
|||||
|
|
282 | 266 | 276 | 261 | |
|
|
261 | 260 | 255 | 253 | |
(Source: Business Employment Dynamics)
Employment by Occupation
| Data series | Employment, 2023 |
|---|---|
| 393,700 | |
Sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, except technical and scientific products |
822,820 |
Sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, technical and scientific products |
172,760 |
| 259,550 | |
| 71,100 |
(Source: Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics)
Projections
For projected (future) employment estimates, see the National Employment Matrix, which includes employment estimates by industry and occupation for wholesale trade.
(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, as well as weekly earnings by union membership status, are shown. In addition, recent hourly and annual earnings are shown for occupations commonly found in wholesale trade. This section also contains information on the average cost of benefits paid by employers, as well as recent rates of change in wages and total compensation.
Earnings and Hours of All Employees
| Data series | Back data |
Aug. 2024 |
Sep. 2024 |
Oct. 2024 |
Nov. 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
$37.75 | $37.83 | (p)$37.89 | (p)$38.06 | |
|
|
39.3 | 39.2 | (p)39.2 | (p)39.4 | |
|
Footnotes |
|||||
(Source: Current Employment Statistics)
Earnings and Hours of Production and Nonsupervisory Employees
| Data series | Back data |
Aug. 2024 |
Sep. 2024 |
Oct. 2024 |
Nov. 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
$31.33 | $31.32 | (p)$31.44 | (p)$31.69 | |
|
|
39.1 | 39.0 | (p)39.2 | (p)39.2 | |
|
Footnotes |
|||||
(Source: Current Employment Statistics)
Earnings by Occupation
| Data series | Wages, 2023 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hourly | Annual | |||
| Median | Mean | Median | Mean | |
| $18.57 | $19.49 | $38,630 | $40,540 | |
Sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, except technical and scientific products |
$30.88 | $38.54 | $64,220 | $80,170 |
Sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, technical and scientific products |
$48.13 | $53.71 | $100,110 | $111,720 |
| $25.34 | $26.71 | $52,700 | $55,560 | |
| $30.80 | $34.90 | $64,060 | $72,600 | |
(Source: Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics)
Employee Benefits
This section presents data on the incidence (the percentage of workers with access to and participation in employer-provided benefit plans) and provisions of selected employee benefits from the National Compensation Survey. More Benefits estimates are also accessible from the Benefits database, the archived NCS publications page, and the complete Employee Benefits Excel dataset (XLSX).
| Data series | Access | Participation | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Back data |
2024 | Back data |
2024 | |
Private industry |
||||
|
|
85 |
|
68 | |
|
|
11 |
|
8 | |
|
|
84 |
|
65 | |
(Source: Employee Benefits in the United States)
| Data series | After 1 year of service | After 20 years of service | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Back data |
2024 | Back data |
2024 | |
Mean number of vacation days for private industry workers without consolidated leave plans |
|
8 |
|
17 |
(Source: Employee Benefits in the United States)
| Data series | Back data |
2024 |
|---|---|---|
Percent of private industry workers with access to employer-sponsored benefits |
||
|
|
89 | |
|
|
93 | |
|
|
90 | |
(Source: Employee Benefits in the United States)
Employer Compensation Costs
| Data series | Back data |
4th quarter 2023 |
1st quarter 2024 |
2nd quarter 2024 |
3rd quarter 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Private industry |
|||||
12-month percent change |
|||||
|
|
3.9% | 4.4% | 3.0% | 2.8% | |
|
|
3.8% | 4.7% | 3.0% | 2.6% | |
3-month percent change |
|||||
|
|
0.4% | 1.9% | 0.4% | 0.2% | |
|
|
0.4% | 2.0% | 0.1% | 0.1% | |
(Source: Compensation Cost Trends)
| Data series | Private industry | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Compensation component ($ per hour worked) |
Percent of total compensation | |||
| Back data |
2nd quarter 2024 | Back data |
2nd quarter 2024 | |
|
|
50.29 |
|
100.0 | |
|
|
35.58 |
|
70.8 | |
|
|
14.71 |
|
29.2 | |
|
|
3.63 |
|
7.2 | |
|
|
1.67 |
|
3.3 | |
|
|
3.89 |
|
7.7 | |
(Source: Compensation Cost Trends)
Union Membership and Representation
| Data series | Back data |
Median weekly earnings | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | ||
Union membership and representation |
|||||
|
|
$980 | $1,003 | $1,057 | $1,152 | |
|
|
$1,116 | $910 | $1,012 | $1,019 | |
|
|
$1,062 | $876 | $993 | $1,078 | |
|
|
$973 | $1,014 | $1,063 | $1,157 | |
(Source: Current Population Survey)
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 wholesale trade. 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.
| Data series | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Fatalities |
||||
| 178 | 155 | 178 | 171 | |
|
Blank cells indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria. |
||||
| Data series | 2023 |
|---|---|
Rate of injury and illness cases per 100 full-time workers |
|
| 2.3 | |
Cases involving days away from work, job restriction, or transfer |
1.5 |
| 0.9 | |
| 0.6 | |
|
Blank cells indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria. |
|
(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 |
Jul. 2024 |
Aug. 2024 |
Sep. 2024 |
Oct. 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
(p)195.108 | (p)194.223 | (p)189.215 | (p)188.529 | |
Percent change from previous month |
(p)-0.4% | (p)-0.5% | (p)-2.6% | (p)-0.4% | |
|
Footnotes |
|||||
(Source: Producer Price Indexes)
Workplace Trends
This section presents data on the number of establishments and the number of establishments experiencing job gains or job losses in wholesale trade. 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
| Data series | Back data |
3rd quarter 2023 |
4th quarter 2023 |
1st quarter 2024 |
2nd quarter 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Number of establishments |
|||||
|
|
640,274 | 642,367 | (p)641,474 | (p)644,325 | |
|
|
47 | 49 | (p)49 | (p)48 | |
|
|
2 | 1 | (p)1 | (p)1 | |
|
|
(p)1 | (p)1 | |||
Establishments with changes in employment (in thousands) |
|||||
With job gains (seasonally adjusted) |
|
105 | 109 | 103 | |
With job losses (seasonally adjusted) |
|
104 | 103 | 103 | |
|
Footnotes |
|||||
(Source: Business Employment Dynamics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages)
Productivity
This section presents productivity and related data for the industry, presented as the percent change from the previous year. Measures of labor productivity, or output per hour, compare the growth in output to the growth in hours worked. Growth in unit labor costs represent the annual change in the labor cost of producing one unit of output.
| Data series | Back data |
2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
3.7 | 1.3 | -1.2 | -1.6 | |
|
|
-6.3 | 3.3 | 3.2 | 2.1 | |
|
|
-2.8 | 4.6 | 1.9 | 0.4 | |
|
|
3.2 | 4.2 | 7.0 | 5.9 |
(Source: Productivity)
Data extracted on: December 11, 2024