# Securities, Commodities, and Financial Services Sales Agents

US SOC code 41-3031. Markdown version of https://futurehistory.earth/timeline/41-3031

Also called: Stockbroker, Registered representative, Investment banker, Financial services sales agent, Securities sales agent.

## In brief

In May 2025, [BLS](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip) counted **489,570** US securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents, with median pay of **$78,660** a year. Of the BLS counts since 2003, the May 2025 count is the highest. The earliest figure here is [an estimate](https://www.nyse.com/history-of-nyse) of **5,000** from 1900, not measured the same way as today's count. The last full technology era in this work: Zero-commission trading, 2013 to 2023. The zero-commission wave eliminated the last economic rationale for paying a broker to execute a simple trade.

## What the sources say

### Official outlook

BLS projects employment to grow 1.4% from 2025 to 2035. Source: [BLS Employment Projections 2025-35](https://data.bls.gov/projections/nationalMatrix?queryParams=41-3031&ioType=o).

### AI exposure studies

- **51.9%** 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)
- **0.016** 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)

### Since the 2013 prediction

In 2013, Frey and Osborne put this job's probability of computerisation at 0.016. BLS counted **325,140** of these jobs in May 2013 and **489,570** in May 2025 (+51%, a change derived by Future History).

Data as of BLS OEWS May 2025; BLS Employment Projections 2025-35. BLS publishes these counts as yearly survey snapshots and cautions against reading them as a precise trend. In May 2021 BLS changed how it estimates these counts (a model-based method using three years of survey data) and moved fully to the 2018 occupation codes, so part of a change across 2021 can come from the method rather than the work.

## Securities, Commodities, and Financial Services Sales Agents employment and pay by year

- On record since: 1792
- Latest US employment: 489,570 (May 2025). Source: BLS OEWS May 2025 [6]
- Latest US median pay: $78,660 (May 2025). Source: BLS OEWS May 2025 [9]
- Outlook: +1.4% by 2035. Source: BLS Employment Projections 2025-35 [27]

### 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.

- **Australia** (ANZSCO 2222)
  - Employment, 2025: 19,500. Source: ABS Labour Force Survey [7]. ABS Labour Force Survey (Detailed), table EQ08: employed persons in ANZSCO 2222 Financial Dealers, national (summed across sex and state/territory), annual average of 4 quarterly estimates.
  - Median pay, 2025: A$137,852. Source: ABS Employee Earnings May 2025 [13]. Annualised (x52) from A$2,651 median weekly earnings. ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025: median pay for full-time non-managerial employees paid at the adult rate, before tax. Surfaced via the Jobs and Skills Australia occupation profile.

### All 28 years of cited US data

| Year | US employment | Annual pay (median unless marked) | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1900 | 5,000 (estimate) | n/a | Est., NYSE [1] |
| 1929 | 70,000 (estimate) | n/a | Est., Wikipedia [2] |
| 1940 | 30,000 (estimate) | n/a | Est., Library of Congress [3] |
| 1975 | 130,000 (estimate) | n/a | Est., Wikipedia [4] |
| 2002 | 254,600 | $60,990 | BLS OEWS 2002 [5] |
| 2003 | 245,280 | $60,530 | BLS OEWS May 2003 [6] |
| 2004 | 240,500 | $69,200 | BLS OEWS May 2004 [6] |
| 2005 | 251,710 | $67,130 | BLS OEWS May 2005 [6] |
| 2006 | 260,360 | $68,500 | BLS OEWS May 2006 [6] |
| 2007 | 268,480 | $68,430 | BLS OEWS May 2007 [6] |
| 2008 | 271,900 | $68,680 | BLS OEWS May 2008 [6] |
| 2009 | 271,670 | $66,930 | BLS OEWS May 2009 [6] |
| 2010 | 276,290 | $70,190 | BLS OEWS May 2010 [6] |
| 2011 | 307,020 | $72,060 | BLS OEWS May 2011 [6] |
| 2012 | 330,470 | $71,720 | BLS OEWS May 2012 [6] |
| 2013 | 325,140 | $72,640 | BLS OEWS May 2013 [6] |
| 2014 | 316,340 | $72,070 | BLS OEWS May 2014 [6] |
| 2015 | 319,280 | $71,550 | BLS OEWS May 2015 [6] |
| 2016 | 353,780 | $67,310 | BLS OEWS May 2016 [6] |
| 2017 | 389,610 | $63,780 | BLS OEWS May 2017 [6] |
| 2018 | 415,890 | $64,120 | BLS OEWS May 2018 [6] |
| 2019 | 437,880 | $62,270 | BLS OEWS May 2019 (employment) [6]; BLS OEWS May 2019 (pay) [10] |
| 2020 | 440,300 | $64,770 | BLS OEWS May 2020 [6] |
| 2021 | 426,870 | $62,910 | BLS OEWS May 2021 [6] |
| 2022 | 443,220 | $67,480 | BLS OEWS May 2022 [6] |
| 2023 | 479,630 | $76,900 | BLS OEWS May 2023 (employment) [6]; BLS OEWS May 2023 (pay) [11] |
| 2024 | 472,300 | $78,140 | BLS OEWS May 2024 [6] |
| 2025 | 489,570 | $78,660 | BLS OEWS May 2025 [6] |

## Sources (94)

### Employment series

1. [NYSE — "History of NYSE" (NYSE seat count history and early market structure)](https://www.nyse.com/history-of-nyse), New York Stock Exchange
2. [Wikipedia — Wall Street crash of 1929 (NYSE membership, retail investor expansion, broker dealer counts)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_Street_crash_of_1929), Wikipedia
3. [Library of Congress — "Signing of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934" (broker-dealer registration history)](https://guides.loc.gov/this-month-in-business-history/june/signing-securities-exchange-act-1934), Library of Congress / Bureau of Labor Statistics
4. [Wikipedia — 1975 Stock Brokerage Commission Deregulation (May Day, industry structure)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1975_Stock_Brokerage_Commission_Deregulation), Wikipedia
5. [BLS OES 2002 national estimates (flat file)](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oes02nat.zip), Bureau of Labor Statistics
6. 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), [2017](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm17nat.zip), [2018](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm18nat.zip), [2019](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm19nat.zip), [2020](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm20nat.zip), [2021](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm21nat.zip), [2022](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm22nat.zip), [2023](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm23nat.zip), [2024](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm24nat.zip), [2025](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip)
7. [ABS: Labour Force, Australia, Detailed, table EQ08 (Employed persons by Occupation unit group, ANZSCO 2013), latest release](https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/labour/employment-and-unemployment/labour-force-australia-detailed/latest-release), Australian Bureau of Statistics

### Wage series

8. [BLS OES 2002 national estimates (flat file)](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oes02nat.zip), Bureau of Labor Statistics
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), [2017](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm17nat.zip), [2018](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm18nat.zip), [2020](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm20nat.zip), [2021](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm21nat.zip), [2022](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm22nat.zip), [2025](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip)
10. [BLS OEWS May 2019 — 41-3031 median annual wage](https://www.bls.gov/oes/2019/may/oes413031.htm), Bureau of Labor Statistics
11. [BLS OEWS May 2023 — 41-3031 Securities, Commodities, and Financial Services Sales Agents median annual wage](https://www.bls.gov/oes/2023/may/oes413031.htm), Bureau of Labor Statistics
12. [BLS OEWS May 2024, national cross-industry estimates (flat file)](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm24nat.zip), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
13. [Jobs and Skills Australia: Financial Dealers (ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025)](https://www.jobsandskills.gov.au/data/occupation-and-industry-profiles/occupations/2222-financial-dealers), Jobs and Skills Australia / Australian Bureau of Statistics

### Tool eras

14. [Buttonwood Agreement — "How 24 Brokers Under a Tree Created the New York Stock Exchange" (Market Histories)](https://www.markethistories.com/en/the-buttonwood-agreement-how-24-brokers-under-a-tree-created-the-new-york-stock-exchange-1792), Market Histories
15. [Investoramnesia.com — "Stock Ticker Invented" (Calahan 1867, Edison 1871 timeline)](https://investoramnesia.com/timeline/stock-ticker-invented/), Investor Amnesia
16. [Wikipedia — Ticker tape (history of the stock ticker)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ticker_tape), Wikipedia
17. [History.com — "New York Stock Exchange Origins: Buttonwood Agreement" (telephone and wire-house era context)](https://www.history.com/articles/new-york-stock-exchange-origin-buttonwood-agreement-tree), History.com
18. [Wikipedia — 1975 Stock Brokerage Commission Deregulation (May Day)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1975_Stock_Brokerage_Commission_Deregulation), Wikipedia
19. [About Schwab — "Our History" (first branch September 1975, commission-cutting model)](https://www.aboutschwab.com/history), Charles Schwab Corporation
20. [Wikipedia — Bloomberg Terminal (history: first units delivered December 1982 to Merrill Lynch)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloomberg_Terminal), Wikipedia
21. [Fast Company — "How the Bloomberg Terminal Made History—And Stays Ever Relevant"](https://www.fastcompany.com/3051883/the-bloomberg-terminal), Fast Company
22. [Computerworld — "A Brief History of E\*Trade" (1983 first online trade, 1992 E\*TRADE brand)](https://www.computerworld.com/article/1718072/sidebar-a-brief-history-of-etrade.html), Computerworld
23. [TechCrunch — "Robinhood App Will Offer Zero-Commission Stock Trades Thanks To $3M Seed" (December 18, 2013)](https://techcrunch.com/2013/12/18/zero-commission-stock-trading-robinhood/), TechCrunch
24. [Wikipedia — Robinhood Markets (founding April 2013, zero-commission model, industry impact 2019)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robinhood_Markets), Wikipedia
25. [CNBC — "Morgan Stanley kicks off generative AI era on Wall Street" (September 18, 2023)](https://www.cnbc.com/2023/09/18/morgan-stanley-chatgpt-financial-advisors.html), CNBC
26. [FactSet — "FactSet Launches FactSet Mercury to Supercharge Junior Banker Workflows" (press release, December 14, 2023)](https://investor.factset.com/news-releases/news-release-details/factset-launches-factset-mercury-supercharge-junior-banker), FactSet

### Forecasts and exposure studies

27. [BLS Employment Projections 2025-35, National Employment Matrix: 41-3031 Securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents (2025: 531.0 thousand; 2035: 538.5 thousand; +1.4%)](https://data.bls.gov/projections/nationalMatrix?queryParams=41-3031&ioType=o), Bureau of Labor Statistics
28. [Frey & Osborne (2013), "The Future of Employment: How Susceptible Are Jobs to Computerisation?", Appendix (SOC 41-3031 Securities, Commodities, and Financial Services Sales Agents: probability 0.016, rank 74 of 702)](https://oms-www.files.svdcdn.com/production/downloads/academic/The_Future_of_Employment.pdf), Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford
29. [Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin & Rock (2023), "GPTs are GPTs", occupation-level exposure data occ\_level.csv (O\*NET-SOC 41-3031.00, human-rated β 0.519)](https://github.com/openai/GPTs-are-GPTs/blob/main/data/occ_level.csv), OpenAI

### Historical notes

30. [Wikipedia — Buttonwood Agreement](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buttonwood_Agreement), Wikipedia
31. [Federal Reserve History — "Stock Market Crash of 1929"](https://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/stock-market-crash-of-1929), Federal Reserve History
32. [Library of Congress — "Signing of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934"](https://guides.loc.gov/this-month-in-business-history/june/signing-securities-exchange-act-1934), Library of Congress
33. [Wikipedia — 1975 Stock Brokerage Commission Deregulation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1975_Stock_Brokerage_Commission_Deregulation), Wikipedia
34. [Wikipedia — Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gramm%E2%80%93Leach%E2%80%93Bliley_Act), Wikipedia
35. [FINRA-Registered Representatives \| FINRA.org (2024 Industry Snapshot, 2009 departure data)](https://www.finra.org/media-center/reports-studies/2024-industry-snapshot/representative-data), FINRA
36. [Wikipedia — Robinhood Markets (zero-commission impact; Schwab, TD Ameritrade, E\*TRADE response October 2019)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robinhood_Markets), Wikipedia
37. [CNBC — "Morgan Stanley kicks off generative AI era on Wall Street" (September 18, 2023)](https://www.cnbc.com/2023/09/18/morgan-stanley-chatgpt-financial-advisors.html), CNBC

### Predecessors & successors

38. [Buttonwood Agreement — founding context (24 brokers were mostly commodity and government-bond dealers)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buttonwood_Agreement), Wikipedia
39. [Securities Exchange Act of 1934 — Glass-Steagall separation driving bank employees into broker-dealer firms](https://guides.loc.gov/this-month-in-business-history/june/signing-securities-exchange-act-1934), Library of Congress
40. [FPA Journal — "A Concise History of the Financial Planning Profession" (wirehouse broker → RIA transition pathway)](https://www.financialplanningassociation.org/article/journal/SEP16-concise-history-financial-planning-profession), Financial Planning Association

### Present-day analysis

- [Eloundou et al. 2024 — GPTs are GPTs (Science)](https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.10130), accessed 2026-05-23
- [O\*NET 30.3 — Securities, Commodities, and Financial Services Sales Agents (41-3031.00)](https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/41-3031.00), accessed 2026-05-23
- [BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook — Securities, Commodities, and Financial Services Sales Agents: 7% growth 2023–2033](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/sales/securities-commodities-and-financial-services-sales-agents.htm), accessed 2026-05-23
- [McKinsey: "Been there, doing that: How corporate and investment banks are tackling gen AI" (Sep 2023): gen AI as a real-time sales assistant to relationship managers](https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/financial-services/our-insights/been-there-doing-that-how-corporate-and-investment-banks-are-tackling-gen-ai), accessed 2026-10-07
- [Morgan Stanley — AI @ Morgan Stanley: NextBest Action and Debrief (98% adoption, 2025)](https://www.morganstanley.com/press-releases/ai-at-morgan-stanley-debrief-launch), accessed 2026-06-21
- [Cerulli Associates — Broker-dealer AI adoption: institutional sales and HNW roles are resilient cohort (2025)](https://www.cerulli.com/press-releases/billion-dollar-rias-accelerate-ai-and-data-investments-to-drive-next-stage-growth), accessed 2026-05-23
- [FINRA — AI in broker-dealer operations: guidance on AI-generated client communications (2026)](https://www.finra.org/rules-guidance/notices/24-09), accessed 2026-05-23
- [WealthManagement.com — SEC 2026 Examination Priorities: AI use in securities sales and fiduciary compliance](https://www.wealthmanagement.com/regulation-compliance/sec-2026-examination-priorities-what-financial-services-firms-need-to-know), accessed 2026-05-23
- [Wall Street Journal — Robo-advisors structural pressure on retail brokers: commission elimination and fee compression (2025)](https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-end-of-the-stockbroker-robo-advisors-ai-commissions), accessed 2026-05-23
- [Salesforce Financial Services Cloud Einstein — life-event detection and AI-driven prospecting for financial professionals (Spring 2026)](https://vantagepoint.io/blog/sf/einstein-financial-services-spring-26-ai-features), accessed 2026-05-23
- [Outreach — Kaia conversation intelligence: real-time AI coaching and signal-based outreach for financial services (2025)](https://www.outreach.ai/platform/kaia/), accessed 2026-06-21
- [S&P Capital IQ Pro — AI-enhanced surveillance, screening, and portfolio analytics for financial professionals (2025)](https://www.spglobal.com/market-intelligence/en/solutions/capital-iq-pro), accessed 2026-05-23
- [FactSet Mercury — continuous AI-powered monitoring and alert generation for portfolio events (2025)](https://www.factset.com/), accessed 2026-06-21

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