Wholesale Trade

Overview

EMPLOYED

358,000

PART-TIME SHARE

16%

WORKFORCE SHARE

2.4%

FEMALE SHARE

33%

MEDIAN WEEKLY EARNINGS

$1,610

MEDIAN AGE

45

About this data

Wholesale Trade is a small employing industry. Around 2.4% of workers have their main job in this industry.

Wholesalers don't usually have a shop front to sell their items; they are the middle step between manufactures and retailers or businesses.

Median earnings are $1,610 per week, lower than all industries median earnings of $1,700.

Details

On this page

    Employment

    Employment in the Wholesale Trade industry fell over the 20 years to February 2025.
    The number of workers fell by 7,600 (or -2.1%) over the last year.

    Source: ABS, Labour Force Survey, Detailed, May 2025, Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA) trend data.
    Note: Over the COVID-19 pandemic period (highlighted section in the chart above), some industries have censored values, resulting in a broken series for impacted industries. This is due to large quarterly fluctuations in employment resulting in trend data being unreliable for these quarters. Where data are available over the COVID-19 pandemic period, JSA recommends caution when using these trend estimates.
    Quarterly employment, Wholesale Trade Employment
    377600
    379000
    380700
    382500
    384400
    386400
    388400
    390200
    392100
    393900
    395700
    397600
    399400
    401200
    402900
    404500
    406100
    407600
    408900
    409900
    410800
    411500
    412000
    412400
    412700
    412800
    412900
    412700
    412200
    411500
    410400
    408900
    406800
    404300
    401400
    398300
    395100
    391800
    388500
    385400
    382400
    379700
    377200
    375000
    373300
    371900
    371000
    370500
    370500
    370900
    371700
    372800
    374100
    375500
    376900
    378000
    378900
    379300
    379200
    378800
    378000
    376900
    375500
    374000
    372500
    371100
    369900
    369100
    368500
    368300
    368200
    368200
    368300
    368100
    367700
    366900
    365700
    364100
    362200
    360100
    358000

    Sectors

    Other Machinery and Equipment Wholesaling is the largest sector in the Wholesale Trade industry, employing 64,200 workers.

    Source: ABS, Labour Force Survey, Detailed, May 2025, Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA) trend data.
    Note: the sum of sectoral employment may not equal the industry total as data are trended separately, and not further defined (nfd) classifications have been excluded.
    Employment by industry sectors Employment
    Other Machinery and Equipment Wholesaling 64200
    Grocery, Liquor and Tobacco Product Wholesaling 61800
    Furniture, Floor Covering and Other Goods Wholesaling 40400
    Timber and Hardware Goods Wholesaling 39500
    Specialised Industrial Machinery and Equipment Wholesaling 32600
    Mineral, Metal and Chemical Wholesaling 26700
    Motor Vehicle and Motor Vehicle Parts Wholesaling 24900
    Pharmaceutical and Toiletry Goods Wholesaling 21400
    Agricultural Product Wholesaling 21100
    Textile, Clothing and Footwear Wholesaling 14200
    Commission-Based Wholesaling 7200

    Occupations

    Storepersons is the largest employing occupation in the Wholesale Trade industry.

    The 10 largest employing occupations are shown below.

    Some occupations are common across a number of industries.

    Largest employing occupations

    On this page

      Data Downloads

      Industry data

      This file contains data for all 19 industries to make comparing industry data easy. Information available includes:

      • industry overview
      • industry employment (20-year time series)
      • industry sector employment
      • top employing occupations by industry.

       

      Industry data - May 2025.xlsx

      industry_data_-_may_2025.xlsx118390

      Download