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Industries at a Glance
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Merchant Wholesalers, Nondurable Goods: NAICS 424
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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, data for occupations common to the industry, and projections of occupational employment change.
Employment
| Data series | Back data |
Jun. 2024 |
Jul. 2024 |
Aug. 2024 |
Sep. 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Employment (in thousands) |
|||||
Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted) |
|
2,215.2 | 2,217.2 | (p)2,219.3 | (p)2,220.8 |
|
|
1,769.7 | 1,772.5 | (p)1,766.7 | ||
|
Footnotes |
|||||
(Source: Current Employment Statistics)
Employment by Occupation
| Data series | Employment, 2023 |
|---|---|
| 166,210 | |
Sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, except technical and scientific products |
268,160 |
Sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, technical and scientific products |
48,900 |
| 48,040 | |
| 170,400 |
(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 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 are shown. In addition, recent hourly and annual earnings are shown for occupations commonly found in merchant wholesalers, nondurable goods.
Earnings and Hours of All Employees
| Data series | Back data |
May 2024 |
Jun. 2024 |
Jul. 2024 |
Aug. 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
$34.82 | $35.18 | $35.11 | (p)$35.24 | |
|
|
38.7 | 38.9 | 38.4 | (p)38.4 | |
|
Footnotes |
|||||
(Source: Current Employment Statistics)
Earnings and Hours of Production and Nonsupervisory Employees
| Data series | Back data |
May 2024 |
Jun. 2024 |
Jul. 2024 |
Aug. 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
$28.31 | $28.61 | $28.60 | (p)$28.69 | |
|
|
38.9 | 38.8 | 38.5 | (p)38.3 | |
|
Footnotes |
|||||
(Source: Current Employment Statistics)
Earnings by Occupation
| Data series | Wages, 2023 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hourly | Annual | |||
| Median | Mean | Median | Mean | |
| 18.63 | 19.63 | 38,750 | 40,830 | |
Sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, except technical and scientific products |
30.62 | 37.95 | 63,690 | 78,930 |
Sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, technical and scientific products |
61.14 | 59.19 | 127,180 | 123,120 |
| 19.46 | 21.00 | 40,480 | 43,680 | |
| 26.54 | 27.54 | 55,200 | 57,270 | |
(Source: Occupational Employment and Wage 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.
| Data series | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Fatalities |
||||
| 81 | 71 | 77 | ||
|
Blank cells indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria. |
||||
| Data series | 2022 |
|---|---|
Rate of injury and illness cases per 100 full-time workers |
|
| 3.6 | |
Cases involving days away from work, job restriction, or transfer |
2.7 |
| 1.6 | |
| 1.1 | |
|
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 |
Jun. 2024 |
Jul. 2024 |
Aug. 2024 |
Sep. 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
(p)218.524 | (p)215.456 | (p)214.389 | (p)215.395 | |
Percent change from previous month |
(p)2.9% | (p)-1.4% | (p)-0.5% | (p)0.5% | |
|
Footnotes |
|||||
(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
| Data series | Back data |
2nd quarter 2023 |
3rd quarter 2023 |
4th quarter 2023 |
1st quarter 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Number of establishments |
|||||
|
|
180,286 | 181,957 | 182,795 | (p)184,026 | |
|
|
17 | 18 | 20 | (p)20 | |
|
|
|||||
|
|
|||||
|
Footnotes |
|||||
(Source: 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
6.5 | -0.9 | -1.8 | -0.6 | |
|
|
-7.5 | 3.4 | 1.9 | 2.2 | |
|
|
-1.5 | 2.5 | 0.1 | 1.6 | |
|
|
2.4 | 5.5 | 7.7 | 4.5 |
(Source: Productivity)
Data extracted on: October 22, 2024