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labor markets · international trade
Careers in international trade
Nine US occupations run the machinery of importing and exporting: customs brokers and trade-compliance officers, freight forwarders, logisticians, global buyers, trade economists, cargo inspectors, and the managers above them. Together they employed 2,421,870 people in May 2025, and BLS projects roughly 218,300 openings a year across them through 2034. Every figure below traces to the BLS OEWS survey and Employment Projections program; nothing is estimated by us.
Figure 1
Who works in trade: employment by occupation, May 2025
Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/oe, retrieved 2026-07-04). Cross-industry, all ownerships.
Figure 2
What they earn: annual wage distribution, May 2025
Occupation
P10
P25
Median
P75
P90
Purchasing Managers
$92,490
$115,550
$148,080
$182,270
$223,280
Economists
$67,360
$89,330
$124,720
$174,720
$238,060
Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Managers
$65,120
$82,440
$107,230
$146,770
$194,900
Transportation Inspectors
$40,330
$58,780
$92,100
$108,890
$138,670
Logisticians
$50,890
$64,440
$82,320
$106,190
$133,160
Compliance Officers
$48,220
$61,280
$80,730
$109,010
$133,720
Buyers and Purchasing Agents
$48,380
$60,800
$77,710
$100,820
$128,870
Cargo and Freight Agents
$38,340
Figure 3
Where the jobs are going: projected employment change, 2024-34
State geography
Pick an occupation. The map shades each state's location quotient, the share of the state's jobs in this occupation relative to the national share: above 1.00 means the state is specialized in it.
Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Managers (11-3071): state specialization, May 2025
Where to apply
The federal government is the anchor employer for customs and trade-policy work; brokers, forwarders, carriers, and every large importer hire the rest. Customs brokers are licensed by CBP through the Customs Broker License Examination. These are live, real hiring surfaces, not listings we generate:
Occupations are the nine SOC codes with a direct import/export function; customs brokers and import specialists are classified within Compliance Officers 13-1041 (O*NET 13-1041.08), so that occupation is broader than trade alone, as are Economists and the clerk and manager occupations. Wages and employment: BLS OEWS May 2025, cross-industry, all states plus DC, PR, GU, VI. Outlook: BLS Employment Projections 2024-34 all-industry occupation matrix; the aspect-code mapping (change, percent, openings) was verified against the published values for 13-1041 and 13-1081. Pipeline: scripts/ingest/build_trade_careers.py.
$45,710
$52,260
$63,390
$79,810
Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory Clerks
$34,650
$38,200
$45,260
$51,570
$62,190
The spread is wide. Purchasing Managers earn a median $148,080 and economists $124,720, while the occupations with the most jobs, shipping clerks and freight agents, pay medians of $45,260 and $52,260. Customs brokers and trade-compliance officers (SOC 13-1041) sit in the middle at a $80,730 median, with the top decile above $133,720.
Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/oe, retrieved 2026-07-04). Cross-industry, all ownerships.
Logisticians are the standout, +16.7% as supply-chain planning keeps professionalizing. Shipping, receiving, and inventory clerks are the casualty of warehouse automation at -7.7%. The openings column is the practical number: even flat occupations replace retirees and leavers every year.
Logistics, warehouse, and distribution leadership under government transport law; includes logistics managers.
Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/oe, retrieved 2026-07-04). Cross-industry, all ownerships. Location quotient = state share of occupation employment / national share. BLS suppresses small cells, so some states may be missing.