# Purchasing Agents, Except Wholesale, Retail, and Farm Products

US SOC code 13-1023. Markdown version of https://futurehistory.earth/timeline/13-1023

Also called: Purchasing agent, Buyer, Procurement specialist, Strategic sourcing specialist, Indirect buyer.

## In brief

BLS last counted US purchasing agents (except wholesale, retail, and farm products) as their own occupation in May 2016: **297,600** jobs. Median pay was **$63,300** a year in May 2016. The earliest figure here is [an estimate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institute_for_Supply_Management) of **35,000** from 1920, not measured the same way as today's count. The last full technology era for purchasing agents: Source-to-Pay consolidation + contract lifecycle management + spend analytics AI, 2012 to 2023.

## What the sources say

### Official outlook

BLS's 2025-35 employment projections do not list this occupation on its own.

### AI exposure studies

- **36.8%** of this job's tasks are exposed to large language models. Not a forecast of job losses. [Eloundou and others, 2023](https://github.com/openai/GPTs-are-GPTs/blob/main/data/occ_level.csv)
- **0.77** estimated probability that the whole occupation could be computerised, over an unspecified number of years. Not a forecast of job losses. [Frey and Osborne, 2013](https://oms-www.files.svdcdn.com/production/downloads/academic/The_Future_of_Employment.pdf)

Data as of BLS OEWS May 2016.

## Purchasing Agents, Except Wholesale, Retail, and Farm Products employment and pay by year

- On record since: 1915
- Latest US employment: 297,600 (May 2016). Source: BLS OEWS May 2016 [5]
- Latest US median pay: $63,300 (May 2016). Source: BLS OEWS May 2016 [9]

### In other countries

The latest figure each country's statistics agency publishes for this job. Each uses its own occupation definition, survey basis and currency, so the numbers are not directly comparable with each other or with the US figures.

- **Canada** (NOC 12102)
  - Employment, 2020: 49,755. Source: Statistics Canada Census 2021 [8]. Statistics Canada Census of Population 2021: number of persons with employment income in NOC 12102 Procurement and purchasing agents and officers, Canada, reference year 2020. A recipients basis (anyone with employment income during the year), slightly broader than a point-in-time employed count. Statistics Canada Open Licence.
  - Median pay, 2020: C$69,500. Source: Statistics Canada Census 2021 [12]. Statistics Canada Census of Population 2021 (Table 98-10-0586): median employment income for NOC 12102 Procurement and purchasing agents and officers, Canada, reference year 2020, full-year full-time workers (the basis comparable to the US OEWS full-time median). Statistics Canada Open Licence.

### All 19 years of cited US data

| Year | US employment | Annual pay (median unless marked) | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1920 | 35,000 (estimate) | n/a | Est., Wikipedia [1] |
| 1940 | 85,000 (estimate) | n/a | Est., Wikipedia [2] |
| 1960 | 185,000 (estimate) | n/a | Est., Wikipedia [1] |
| 1980 | 310,000 (estimate) | n/a | Est., Wikipedia [3] |
| 2000 | 490,000 (estimate) | n/a | Est., Wikipedia [4] |
| 2003 | 237,210 | $46,650 | BLS OEWS May 2003 [5] |
| 2004 | 257,070 | $47,680 | BLS OEWS May 2004 [5] |
| 2005 | 267,410 | $49,030 | BLS OEWS May 2005 [5] |
| 2006 | 275,910 | $50,730 | BLS OEWS May 2006 [5] |
| 2007 | 281,950 | $52,460 | BLS OEWS May 2007 [5] |
| 2008 | 286,990 | $53,940 | BLS OEWS May 2008 [5] |
| 2009 | 281,910 | $54,810 | BLS OEWS May 2009 [5] |
| 2010 | 272,370 | $56,580 | BLS OEWS May 2010 [5] |
| 2011 | 274,540 | $57,580 | BLS OEWS May 2011 [5] |
| 2012 | 280,950 | $58,760 | BLS OEWS May 2012 [5] |
| 2013 | 284,480 | $59,780 | BLS OEWS May 2013 [5] |
| 2014 | 288,430 | $60,980 | BLS OEWS May 2014 [5] |
| 2015 | 291,540 | $62,220 | BLS OEWS May 2015 [5] |
| 2016 | 297,600 | $63,300 | BLS OEWS May 2016 [5] |

## Sources (69)

### Employment series

1. [Wikipedia — Institute for Supply Management (NAPA founding 1915, Elwood Hendricks, early membership and professional development)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institute_for_Supply_Management), Wikipedia / Institute for Supply Management
2. [Wikipedia — "Procurement" (procurement history, US industrial development; BLS documented 526,200 purchasing agents and managers in 2019)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procurement), Wikipedia
3. [Wikipedia — "Just-in-time manufacturing" (JIT spread to Western manufacturers, 1980 Ford conference, impact on procurement)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just-in-time_manufacturing), Wikipedia
4. [Wikipedia — SAP Ariba (Ariba IPO 1999, first day stock surge 291%, $40B market cap 2000)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAP_Ariba), Wikipedia / SAP Ariba
5. BLS OEWS, national cross-industry estimates (flat file), Bureau of Labor Statistics. Editions: [2003](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm03nat.zip), [2004](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm04nat.zip), [2005](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm05nat.zip), [2006](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm06nat.zip), [2007](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm07nat.zip), [2008](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm08nat.zip), [2009](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm09nat.zip), [2010](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm10nat.zip), [2011](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm11nat.zip), [2012](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm12nat.zip), [2013](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm13nat.zip), [2014](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm14nat.zip), [2015](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm15nat.zip), [2016](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm16nat.zip)
6. [Statistics Canada, Census of Population 2006, Table 97-563-XCB2006069 (Wage and salary statistics by occupation, NOC-S 2006), income reference year 2005](https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2006/dp-pd/tbt/Rp-eng.cfm?LANG=E&PID=96285), Statistics Canada
7. [Statistics Canada, Census of Population 2016, Table 98-400-X2016356 (Occupation by employment income statistics, NOC 2016), income reference year 2015](https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/catalogue/98-400-X2016356), Statistics Canada
8. [Statistics Canada, Census of Population 2021, Table 98-10-0586 (Employment income statistics by occupation unit group, NOC 2021), income reference year 2020](https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=9810058601), Statistics Canada

### Wage series

9. BLS OEWS, national cross-industry estimates (flat file), Bureau of Labor Statistics. Editions: [2003](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm03nat.zip), [2004](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm04nat.zip), [2005](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm05nat.zip), [2006](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm06nat.zip), [2007](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm07nat.zip), [2008](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm08nat.zip), [2009](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm09nat.zip), [2010](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm10nat.zip), [2011](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm11nat.zip), [2012](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm12nat.zip), [2013](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm13nat.zip), [2014](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm14nat.zip), [2015](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm15nat.zip), [2016](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm16nat.zip)
10. [Statistics Canada, Census of Population 2006, Table 97-563-XCB2006069 (Wage and salary statistics by occupation, NOC-S 2006), income reference year 2005](https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2006/dp-pd/tbt/Rp-eng.cfm?LANG=E&PID=96285), Statistics Canada
11. [Statistics Canada, Census of Population 2016, Table 98-400-X2016356 (Occupation by employment income statistics, NOC 2016), income reference year 2015](https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/catalogue/98-400-X2016356), Statistics Canada
12. [Statistics Canada, Census of Population 2021, Table 98-10-0586 (Employment income statistics by occupation unit group, NOC 2021), income reference year 2020](https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=9810058601), Statistics Canada

### Tool eras

13. [Wikipedia — "Procurement" (historical origins of procurement, mercantile and pre-industrial era)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procurement), Wikipedia
14. [Wikipedia — Institute for Supply Management (NAPA founding context; purchasing profession emerging from railway and industrial era)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institute_for_Supply_Management), Wikipedia / Institute for Supply Management
15. [Wikipedia — "Electronic procurement" (EDI origins in 1960s, DuPont standardized manifests; forerunner to e-procurement)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_procurement), Wikipedia
16. [Wikipedia — "Just-in-time manufacturing" (JIT spread to Western manufacturers, 1980 Ford conference, impact on supplier relationships)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just-in-time_manufacturing), Wikipedia
17. [Wikipedia — SAP Ariba (Ariba founded 1996, IPO 1999, SAP acquisition 2012 $4.4B, 5.3M companies, $3.75T annual transactions)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAP_Ariba), Wikipedia / SAP Ariba
18. [Wikipedia — Coupa Software (founded 2006, IPO 2016, Thoma Bravo take-private 2023 $8B enterprise value)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coupa), Wikipedia / Coupa
19. [Wikipedia — Icertis (founded 2009, Bellevue WA; contract lifecycle management, AI clause identification, $2.8B valuation 2021)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icertis), Wikipedia / Icertis
20. [O\*NET 13-1023.00 — BLS OOH 2024-34 projections (5-6% growth, 52,200 annual openings)](https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/13-1023.00), O\*NET / BLS

### Forecasts and exposure studies

21. [Frey & Osborne (2013), "The Future of Employment: How Susceptible Are Jobs to Computerisation?", Appendix (SOC 13-1023 Purchasing Agents, Except Wholesale, Retail, and Farm Products: probability 0.77, rank 423 of 702)](https://oms-www.files.svdcdn.com/production/downloads/academic/The_Future_of_Employment.pdf), Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford
22. [Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin & Rock (2023), "GPTs are GPTs", occupation-level exposure data occ\_level.csv (O\*NET-SOC 13-1023.00, human-rated β 0.368)](https://github.com/openai/GPTs-are-GPTs/blob/main/data/occ_level.csv), OpenAI

### Historical notes

23. [Wikipedia — Institute for Supply Management (NAPA founding 1915, Elwood Hendricks, first convention 1916, 250 members)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institute_for_Supply_Management), Wikipedia / Institute for Supply Management
24. [Wikipedia — "Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act" (June 1930, tariffs on 20,000+ goods, retaliatory tariffs, supply chain disruption)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoot%E2%80%93Hawley_Tariff_Act), Wikipedia
25. [Wikipedia — "Marshall Plan" (Economic Recovery Act 1948, $13.3B aid, 16 European countries, US procurement coordination)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_Plan), Wikipedia
26. [Wikipedia — "Just-in-time manufacturing" (1980 Ford conference, Fujio Cho, JIT adoption by HP, Motorola, GE, Deere, Apple)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just-in-time_manufacturing), Wikipedia
27. [Wikipedia — SAP Ariba (IPO 1999, 291% first-day stock surge, $40B peak market cap 2000)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAP_Ariba), Wikipedia / SAP Ariba
28. [Wikipedia — "COVID-19 pandemic" (supply chain disruptions 2020-2022; semiconductor shortages, PPE sourcing crisis, nearshoring acceleration)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic), Wikipedia

### Predecessors & successors

29. [Wikipedia — "Procurement" (mercantile origins of purchasing; railway era as professionalization moment)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procurement), Wikipedia

### Present-day analysis

- [Eloundou et al. 2024 — GPTs are GPTs (Science)](https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.10130), accessed 2026-05-24
- [O\*NET 30.3 — Purchasing Agents, Except Wholesale, Retail, and Farm Products (13-1023.00)](https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/13-1023.00), accessed 2026-05-24
- [BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook — Purchasing Managers, Buyers, and Purchasing Agents (2024)](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/business-and-financial/purchasing-managers-buyers-and-purchasing-agents.htm), accessed 2026-05-24
- [McKinsey Global Institute — The Economic Potential of Generative AI (2023)](https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/tech-and-ai/our-insights/the-economic-potential-of-generative-ai-the-next-productivity-frontier), accessed 2026-05-24
- [Deloitte — 2025 Global Chief Procurement Officer Survey: An Inflection Point for Procurement's Digital Bet](https://www.deloitte.com/us/en/services/consulting/articles/2025-global-chief-procurement-officer-survey.html), accessed 2026-06-21
- [ISM — Procurement Automation: Upscaling with AI (Inside Supply Management, May 2025)](https://www.ismworld.org/supply-management-news-and-reports/news-publications/inside-supply-management-magazine/blog/2025/2025-05/procurement-automation/), accessed 2026-06-21
- [Spend Matters — Procurement AI Benchmark Report 2025](https://spendmatters.com/2025/procurement-ai-benchmark/), accessed 2026-05-24
- [Supply Chain Dive — Businesses revamp procurement amid AI adoption swell (2025)](https://www.supplychaindive.com/news/AI-enterprise-procurement-purchasing-data-G2/748921/), accessed 2026-06-21
- [Gartner — Top Trends in Procurement and Sourcing 2025](https://www.gartner.com/en/procurement-operations/trends/top-trends-procurement-sourcing), accessed 2026-05-24
- [LinkedIn Skills on the Rise 2026](https://www.linkedin.com/business/talent/blog/talent-strategy/linkedin-most-in-demand-hard-and-soft-skills), accessed 2026-05-24
- [Coupa — Coupa Navi AI Platform: Autonomous Procurement Automation (2025)](https://www.coupa.com/products/ai), accessed 2026-05-24
- [Sievo — Sievo Spend Analytics Product Overview (2025)](https://sievo.com/products/spend-analytics), accessed 2026-06-21
- [SAP — Next-Gen SAP Ariba: Building the Foundation for Intelligent Procurement (SAP News Center, 2026)](https://news.sap.com/2026/03/next-gen-sap-ariba-foundation-for-intelligent-procurement/), accessed 2026-06-21
- [Jaggaer — JAGGAER ONE AI Sourcing Optimizer (2025)](https://www.jaggaer.com/solutions/sourcing), accessed 2026-05-24

How to read these figures: https://futurehistory.earth/methodology. Every figure links to its own source; gaps stay gaps.