Industry comparison

Manufacturing (paper/chemicals) vs Retail Trade (general)

NAICS-sector comparison built from the H1B Report corpus. Filing volume, distinct sponsor count, sponsor concentration and dominant occupations.

Summary

Manufacturing (paper/chemicals) and Retail Trade (general) represent two distinct sectors in H-1B sponsorship activity. Retail Trade dominates in volume, filing 250,553 H-1B petitions across 2,757 employers, while Manufacturing (paper/chemicals) filed 119,027 petitions with a larger sponsor base of 4,712 employers.

The contrast reflects different staffing models: Retail Trade concentrates H-1B hiring in fewer, larger employers, while Manufacturing disperses sponsorship across a broader set of companies. Manufacturing's larger employer count but lower petition volume suggests smaller average H-1B cohorts per sponsor, whereas Retail Trade's concentrated filings indicate major retailers account for significant H-1B recruitment.

Both sectors use H-1B workers, but Retail Trade's 2× filing advantage shows it relies more heavily on foreign worker sponsorship relative to its employer base.

Manufacturing vs Retail Trade H-1B
H-1B filings by sector
Manufacturing H-1B sponsorship
Retail Trade H-1B comparison
NAICS sector H-1B volume

Sector A

Manufacturing (paper/chemicals)

NAICS 32Rank #8

Sector B

Retail Trade (general)

NAICS 45Rank #7

Key metrics

Filings / employer is a concentration hint — higher means a few sponsors do most of the filing.

Metric	Manufacturing (paper/chemicals)	Retail Trade (general)
Total filings	119,027	250,553▲
National share %	1.28%	2.68%▲
Distinct sponsors	4,712▲	2,757
Filings / employer	25	91
Rank	#8	#7▲
Top sponsor	Bristol-Myers Squibb Company	AMAZON.COM SERVICES LLC (VA)
Top occupation	Software Developers	Software Developers

Filings by fiscal year

Year-over-year H-1B demand within each sector.

Manufacturing (paper/chemicals)

Time series
Period	Value
FY2010	4,986
FY2011	5,266
FY2012	5,421
FY2013	5,098
FY2014	5,815
FY2015	6,136
FY2016	6,406
FY2017	7,243
FY2018	7,664
FY2019	8,270
FY2020	7,489
FY2021	12,502
FY2022	8,500
FY2023	8,497
FY2024	7,756
FY2025	9,221
FY2026	2,757

Retail Trade (general)

Time series
Period	Value
FY2010	3,089
FY2011	3,674
FY2012	4,146
FY2013	4,743
FY2014	6,059
FY2015	7,463
FY2016	8,728
FY2017	11,457
FY2018	13,585
FY2019	17,470
FY2020	22,645
FY2021	33,213
FY2022	27,820
FY2023	27,462
FY2024	24,688
FY2025	26,082
FY2026	8,229