Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Technical and Scientific Products

Low Risk
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Occupation snapshot

What does this snowflake show?
The Snowflake is a visual summary of the five badges: Automation Risk (calculated), Risk (polled), Growth, Wages and Volume. It gives you an instant snapshot of an occupations profile. The colour of the Snowflake relates to its size. The better the occupation scores in relation to others, the larger and greener the Snowflake becomes.
JOB SCORE
5.4/10
What's this?
Job Score (higher is better):

We rate jobs using four factors. These are:

- Chance of being automated
- Job growth
- Wages
- Volume of available positions

These are some key things to think about when job hunting.

Risk & user votes

Calculated automation risk

32% (Low Risk)

Low Risk (21-40%): This occupation has a lower risk of full replacement by AI, software, or robotic systems. Some tasks may be automated or assisted, but the role usually still relies on human judgement, communication, responsibility, physical adaptability, or practical decision-making.

More information on what this score is, and how it is calculated is available here.

Human strengths important in this job

These are human abilities and work contexts that are important in this occupation. They may help explain why parts of the role are harder to replace end-to-end, but they are not the only inputs into the automation score.

Persuasion

Very important
Why this matters
Influencing people to change their minds or behavior through conversation, trust, and negotiation.
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Social perceptiveness

Quite important
Why this matters
Noticing others’ emotions and reactions in the moment and adjusting what you say or do based on why they’re responding that way.
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Originality

Quite important
Why this matters
Coming up with novel ideas and creative solutions when there isn’t an obvious playbook to follow.
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Critical thinking

Quite important
Why this matters
Weigh options using logic and evidence, spot weaknesses in arguments, and choose the best approach when there isn’t a single clear answer.
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Communicating with people outside the organization

Quite important
Why this matters
Represents the organization to customers, the public, or government—handling questions, concerns, and relationship-building through conversations, writing, calls, or email.
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Show 1 more strength

Active learning

Quite important
Why this matters
Keeps learning from new information and applying it to make better decisions now and in the future, especially when situations change.
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What users think

Based on 248 votes

39% chance of full automation within the next two decades

Our visitors have voted there's a low chance this occupation will be automated. This assessment is further supported by the calculated automation risk level, which estimates 32% chance of automation.

What do you think the risk of automation is?

What is the likelihood that Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Technical and Scientific Products will be replaced by robots or artificial intelligence within the next 20 years?

Sentiment

Based on user votes over time

View sentiment trend

How opinions have changed over time

Pay & outlook

Wages

Very high paid relative to other professions

In 2024, the median annual wage for Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Technical and Scientific Products was $100,070 ($48 per hour).

The median annual wage for Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Technical and Scientific Products was 102.2% higher than the national median annual wage, which stood at $49,500.

View wage trend

Wages over time

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Growth

Slow growth relative to other professions.

The number of 'Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Technical and Scientific Products' job openings is expected to rise 1.9% by 2034

View employment trend

Total employment, and estimated job openings

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the period between 2023 and 2033
Updated projections are due 09-2025.

Volume

Greater range of job opportunities compared to other professions

As of 2024 there were 293,930 people employed as 'Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Technical and Scientific Products' within the United States.

This represents around 0.19% of the employed workforce across the country

Put another way, around 1 in 524 people are employed as 'Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Technical and Scientific Products'.

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What people are saying (10)

Leave a comment
James S (Low)
31 Oct 2025 01:11
I personally believe that the chances of AI replacing the jobs of sales representatives are slim to none. Yes, AI could be useful in the explanation of certain things but sales is a very personable industry. A big saying in sales is the person is gonna have to buy into you before they buy into the product. So yes, AI could have its perks in some ways but no robot or AI will be able to take the place of a good and personable salesman that all customers love.
GB (Highly likely)
19 Aug 2025 02:12
I believe that even with technical and cutting edge products AI will be able to stay on top of things. Once it is good with socially interacting with customers and researchers there will be no need for a human.
Christian Rojas (Moderate)
18 Jan 2025 11:08
Because this category is within B2B business model, therefore it is very difficult to automate this kind of relationships, at least by now.
Emma (Low)
03 Nov 2024 15:25
Depending on the product sold, I don’t see people buying critical and expensive software from AI.
That is if buyers remain people themselves.
In a market where several products fit a company’s criteria, only a person can push for the product they’re selling. Using different methods like research, gifts, creating rapport etc.
Fabio (No chance)
04 May 2023 09:29
K2B sales impossible to be computed as every new interaction is new no historic
Hayden Hall (Uncertain)
13 Feb 2023 17:09
in Enterprise B2B tech personally, and I think much of what I do day-to-day could be automated. However, negotiating complex deals / ideating applications for tech in a complex (often quite unique) enterprise environment + gaining stakeholder alignment etc. may not be so easy to automate in near-term.
Joao Alves Kobal Neto (Uncertain)
08 Jul 2020 18:03
I think the total replace is not possible. All off de customers prefer relationship with our employees and stakeholders. Some areas needs the technical sales
Jacques (Uncertain)
01 May 2020 11:19
It depends on companies if they value what there employees bring to the table but I only see this in company's that have management that are "removed" by the people below them in the sense that they do not know what it is that there employees are doing or have unrealistic demands.
Roland Corpuz
10 Apr 2020 05:21
People like to have face to face interaction and it’s nice to know that sales positions will still be around for the long term
Thomas (No chance)
06 Sep 2019 21:02
Too technical, sales is also very personal
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Job description

Sell goods for wholesalers or manufacturers where technical or scientific knowledge is required in such areas as biology, engineering, chemistry, and electronics, normally obtained from at least 2 years of postsecondary education.

O*NET-SOC code: 41-4011.00