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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
$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.
Figure 3
Where the jobs are going: projected employment change, 2024-34
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.
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.
Compliance Officers (13-1041): state specialization, May 2025
Top states by employment
Jobs
Median wage
LQ
California
49,880
$96,980
1.02
Texas
42,900
$75,370
1.14
Florida
29,680
$74,920
1.11
New York
23,500
$90,080
0.90
Pennsylvania
19,810
$85,580
1.22
Virginia
15,190
$80,380
1.38
Georgia
14,390
$70,200
1.10
New Jersey
13,310
$100,000
1.16
Massachusetts
13,190
$102,060
1.35
Arizona
12,430
$74,920
1.43
Customs brokers, import specialists, and trade compliance officers are classified here (O*NET 13-1041.08). CBP import specialists and corporate export-controls staff too.
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.
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.