Employment
Wholesale trade accounted for about 5.7 million wage and salary jobs in 2004. More than 193,000 workers in the wholesale trade industry were self-employed. About 90 percent of the establishments in the industry are small, employing fewer than 20 workers, and they have about 36 percent of the industry's jobs (chart 1). Although some large firms employ many workers, wholesale trade is characterized by a large number of relatively small establishments when compared with other industries. Wholesale trade workers are spread throughout the country, have relatively low union membership, and are more likely to work full time than are workers in most other industries.
| Occupation | Employment, 2004 | Percent change, 2004-14 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number | Percent | ||
| |||
All occupations | 5,655 | 100.0 | 8.4 |
| |||
Management, business, and financial occupations | 538 | 9.5 | 14.6 |
General and operations managers | 136 | 2.4 | 11.8 |
Marketing and sales managers | 70 | 1.2 | 19.5 |
Buyers and purchasing agents | 77 | 1.4 | 8.9 |
Accountants and auditors | 51 | 0.9 | 13.6 |
| |||
Professional and related occupations | 313 | 5.5 | 21.6 |
Computer specialists | 153 | 2.7 | 23.8 |
Designers | 36 | 0.6 | 13.8 |
| |||
Sales and related occupations | 1,442 | 25.5 | 11.7 |
First-line supervisors/managers of non-retail sales workers | 109 | 1.9 | 5.5 |
Retail sales workers | 182 | 3.2 | 2.0 |
Sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, | 814 | 14.4 | 13.9 |
Sales engineers | 26 | 0.5 | 13.1 |
| |||
Office and administrative support occupations | 1,320 | 23.3 | -0.9 |
First-line supervisors/managers of office and administrative | 77 | 1.4 | 3.0 |
Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks | 145 | 2.6 | 1.1 |
Customer service representatives | 150 | 2.6 | 17.9 |
Order clerks | 74 | 1.3 | -25.8 |
Shipping, receiving, and traffic clerks | 161 | 2.8 | 3.4 |
Stock clerks and order fillers | 177 | 3.1 | -12.6 |
Secretaries, except legal, medical, and executive | 74 | 1.3 | -4.8 |
Office clerks, general | 170 | 3.0 | 0.6 |
| |||
Installation, maintenance, and repair occupations | 395 | 7.0 | 11.3 |
Computer, automated teller, and office machine repairers | 58 | 1.0 | 7.8 |
Bus and truck mechanics and diesel engine specialists | 40 | 0.7 | 13.4 |
Mobile heavy equipment mechanics, except engines | 37 | 0.7 | 10.4 |
Maintenance and repair workers, general | 62 | 1.1 | 11.9 |
| |||
Production occupations | 356 | 6.3 | 10.5 |
Assemblers and fabricators | 109 | 1.9 | 14.1 |
Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders | 42 | 0.7 | 3.0 |
| |||
Transportation and material moving occupations | 1,176 | 20.8 | 7.1 |
Driver/sales workers | 112 | 2.0 | 11.3 |
Truck drivers, heavy and tractor-trailer | 202 | 3.6 | 8.3 |
Truck drivers, light or delivery services | 185 | 3.3 | 12.9 |
Industrial truck and tractor operators | 107 | 1.9 | 7.5 |
Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand | 373 | 6.6 | 1.3 |
Packers and packagers, hand | 76 | 1.3 | 13.2 |
| |||
Note: May not add to totals due to omission of occupations with small employment | |||