Industry comparison

Manufacturing (paper/chemicals) vs Wholesale Trade

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

Summary

Manufacturing (paper/chemicals) and Wholesale Trade are nearly tied in total H-1B filings, but differ significantly in sponsor structure. Manufacturing leads with 119,027 filings across 4,712 employers, while Wholesale Trade filed 118,161 times but through 7,818 companies. This means manufacturing sponsors file more H-1B petitions per employer on average, reflecting a more concentrated sponsorship pattern in the sector.

Wholesale Trade's larger employer base indicates broader, more distributed H-1B sponsorship across many companies—likely smaller operations or regional distributors. Manufacturing's smaller but more active sponsor pool suggests larger, more centralized production facilities with greater reliance on specialized H-1B talent. Both sectors show comparable filing volume, making them similarly significant contributors to the H-1B program overall.

manufacturing vs wholesale trade H-1B
H-1B filings by sector
manufacturing H-1B sponsorship
wholesale trade H-1B employers
NAICS sector comparison H-1B

Sector A

Manufacturing (paper/chemicals)

NAICS 32Rank #8

Sector B

Wholesale Trade

NAICS 42Rank #9

Key metrics

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

Metric	Manufacturing (paper/chemicals)	Wholesale Trade
Total filings	119,027▲	118,161
National share %	1.28%▲	1.27%
Distinct sponsors	4,712	7,818▲
Filings / employer	25	15
Rank	#8▲	#9
Top sponsor	Bristol-Myers Squibb Company	Dell Marketing L.P.
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

Wholesale Trade

Time series
Period	Value
FY2010	7,558
FY2011	6,511
FY2012	6,434
FY2013	6,584
FY2014	7,128
FY2015	7,692
FY2016	8,054
FY2017	7,652
FY2018	7,960
FY2019	8,069
FY2020	6,028
FY2021	8,904
FY2022	6,766
FY2023	6,670
FY2024	6,255
FY2025	7,627
FY2026	2,269