Summary of Findings


North Carolina had 13,351 wholesale establishments in 1992 with
$76.4 billion in sales. This represents a 10.3 percent increase in
wholesale establishments and a 33.9 percent increase in sales over 1987
according to the 1992 Census of Wholesale Trade conducted by the Bureau
of the Census, U.S. Department of Commerce. 

Merchant wholesalers accounted for 81.3 percent or 10,859 of the total
establishments and 46.7 percent or $35.6 billion of the total sales in
1992 compared with 81.6 percent of the establishments and 47.4 percent
of the sales in 1987. Manufacturers' sales branches and offices with
1,124 establishments and $30.1 billion in sales and agents, brokers,
and commission merchants with 1,368 establishments and $10.6 billion in
sales made up the rest of the wholesale trade total in 1992. 

Chemicals and allied products, n.e.c., wholesalers were the largest
group of wholesalers by kind of business in terms of sales with $7.0
billion followed by automobiles and other motor vehicles wholesalers
with $4.8 billion and general-line groceries wholesalers with $4.5
billion. Out of 69 kind of business groups, these three accounted for
21.4 percent of the total sales in the State. 

Annual payroll for all wholesalers in the State was up from $3.1
billion in 1987 to $4.2 billion in 1992. Merchant wholesalers had
annual payroll of $3.0 billion in 1992 while manufacturers' sales
branches and offices recorded $894.2 million and agents, brokers, and
commission merchants had $260.3 million. 

Employment by all wholesalers in North Carolina as of mid-March 1992
was 151,131, an increase of 7.8 percent since 1987. Merchant
wholesalers with 118,651 employees accounted for 78.5 percent of the
total wholesale employment in 1992 compared with 80.7 percent in 1987. 

Inventories of $5.0 billion were held at wholesale establishments in
the State at the end of 1992. Merchant wholesalers held 76.7 percent of
these inventories while manufacturers' sales branches and sales offices
held 22.9 percent and agent, brokers, and commission merchants held .4
percent. Inventories of all wholesalers increased during 1992 by 4.3
percent while those of merchant wholesalers increased 4.6 percent. 

Payroll per employee in the State averaged $27.6 thousand for all
wholesalers in 1992, an increase of 26.1 percent since 1987. Merchant
wholesalers averaged $25.4 thousand per employee while manufacturers'
sales branches and offices was $37.0 thousand and agents, brokers, and
commission merchants were $31.3 thousand in 1992. 

Annual payroll as a percent of operating expenses for all wholesalers
decreased from 50.6 percent in 1987 to 50.1 percent in 1992. The ratio
for merchant wholesalers was 50.6 percent; for manufacturers' sales
branches and offices it was 47.2 percent; and for agents, brokers and
commission merchants it was 54.4 percent.