Driver/sales workers job market in New York

Industry trends, wages and hiring signals.

The headline

Industry employment fell while average weekly industry wages rose

A data-driven view of the industries that employ Driver/sales workers in New York.

Verified QCEW 2026 Q1January to March 2026 · State coverage 100% · BLS QCEWCitationEvidence record

Occupation pay

What Driver/sales workers earn in New York

BLS OEWS occupation-level pay estimates for this role — separate from the industry wage trends used elsewhere in this report.

BLS OEWS source

Median annual wage

$42,730New York
Middle 50% of published wages
$33,890 – $51,210
U.S. median annual wage
$38,770
Reference period
May 2025

The middle 50% is the 25th-to-75th percentile wage range, not an experience-level band. Suppressed or unavailable BLS values remain unpublished rather than being estimated.

Pay around New York

How median pay varies by metro area

Published BLS OEWS metro estimates for Driver/sales workers, compared with the New York median of $42,730.

New York median$42,730
Elmira, NY$46,150+8.0% vs. state
Middle 50%$33,020 – $55,620Published employment110
Kingston, NY$45,690+6.9% vs. state
Middle 50%$32,830 – $50,220Published employment230
Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh, NY$44,990+5.3% vs. state
Middle 50%$36,300 – $50,820Published employment680
Watertown-Fort Drum, NY$44,930+5.1% vs. state
Middle 50%$34,380 – $50,250Published employment100
Rochester, NY$44,760+4.8% vs. state
Middle 50%$35,000 – $48,590Published employment940
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ$44,720+4.7% vs. state
Middle 50%$35,860 – $55,910Published employment19,040
View 7 more published metro areas
Utica-Rome, NY$44,090+3.2% vs. state
Middle 50%$32,950 – $49,630Published employment190
Syracuse, NY$42,540−0.4% vs. state
Middle 50%$33,500 – $49,100Published employment850
Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY$39,300−8.0% vs. state
Middle 50%$32,240 – $47,420Published employment930
Glens Falls, NY$38,980−8.8% vs. state
Middle 50%$33,080 – $47,680Published employment100
Binghamton, NY$38,010−11.0% vs. state
Middle 50%$33,440 – $46,760Published employment260
Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY$37,890−11.3% vs. state
Middle 50%$33,330 – $47,590Published employment1,020
Ithaca, NY$36,010−15.7% vs. state
Middle 50%$33,790 – $48,020Published employment80

Areas are ordered by published median wage for readability, not as an overall job-market ranking. The vertical marker is the New York median. Some BLS metropolitan areas cross state lines, so a metro estimate can cover workers in more than one state.

Verified snapshot

Market at a Glance

Key changes in New York’s weighted industry mix.

-0.7%Industry employmentNew York industry employmentU.S. -0.2%vs. -0.2% U.S.
-3.5%Establishments in weighted industriesNew York establishments in weighted industriesU.S. +1.2%vs. +1.2% U.S.
+3.2%Avg. weekly industry wageNew York avg. weekly industry wageU.S. +2.9% · not occupation payvs. +2.9% U.S. · not occupation pay
-0.5 ppGap vs. U.S. industry employmentState minus U.S. industry employment change

Percentage-point gaps use the original published values and are rounded once; subtracting the rounded percentages can give a slightly different result.

Published coverage: 178,607 represented establishments, 86.06% of the published industry mix.

Local research

What the data shows for driver/sales workers in New York

Findings describe the published observation periods shown below. Research published Oct 11, 2026.

This occupation is less concentrated in the state

OEWS May 2025 places New York's share of employment in driver/sales workers at 0.74 times the corresponding national share. The published location quotient expresses that comparison. The state estimate is 18,990 jobs, 4.6% of the national employment estimate for this occupation. It represents 1.96 jobs per thousand jobs in the state's OEWS employment universe. Employment concentration does not establish future growth; it describes employment share, not current hiring.

OEWS May 2025 · BLS OEWS

OEWS employment estimates describe covered wage-and-salary jobs and exclude self-employed workers; location quotients do not measure vacancies or worker demand.

Published median pay is above the U.S. median

New York's published median annual wage for driver/sales workers is 10.2% above the national median in OEWS May 2025. The state estimate is $42,730, compared with $38,770 across the U.S. These medians are not adjusted for living costs and do not describe every worker.

OEWS May 2025 · BLS OEWS

Pay differs widely between metro areas

Ithaca, NY and Elmira, NY define the low and high ends of this published median-pay comparison for New York. Their estimates are $36,010 and $46,150, respectively, in OEWS May 2025; the high end is 28.2% higher. The comparison includes 13 metro areas on the same wage basis and does not measure living costs or job availability.

OEWS May 2025 · BLS OEWS

Metro estimates may include areas in neighboring states. The comparison covers published metro estimates, not every part of the state.

Findings describe published data and do not establish causes. Methodology

Employment trends

Year-over-year change in the weighted industries. The U.S. line is the latest-quarter benchmark because a comparable national quarterly history is not published here.

Latest published values
  • New York · 2026 Q1-0.7%
  • U.S. · latest-quarter benchmark-0.2%

The chart will load automatically. Published values remain available in this report.

View every published value
Quarterly New York industry employment changes and coverage
QuarterNew YorkCoverage
2024 Q2+3.3%100%
2024 Q3+2.8%100%
2024 Q4+3.0%100%
2025 Q1+0.6%100%
2025 Q2-0.5%100%
2025 Q30.0%100%
2025 Q4-0.1%100%
2026 Q1-0.7%100%

How to read this chart

State trend and national reference

The solid line follows New York’s published year-over-year industry employment changes by quarter. The dashed U.S. line is a latest-quarter reference, not a second time series.

Published quarters
8
Earliest quarter
2024 Q2
Latest quarter
2026 Q1
U.S. benchmark
-0.2%

Quarters with no published value are omitted rather than interpolated.

Industry context

Where Driver/sales workers Work

The occupation mix determines which New York industries are weighted into this view.

Industries weighted into the New York Driver/sales workers context
Industry groupOccupation mixEmployment changeEstablishmentsAvg. weekly industry wage
Trade, transportation, and utilities43.0%-0.9%111,623$1,423
Leisure and hospitality42.8%-0.2%66,984$889
Other services6.1%-2.1%65,519$1,140
Manufacturing4.0%-1.9%17,443$1,807
Professional and business services1.5%-1.8%131,129$2,868
Financial activities0.8%+0.5%65,215$9,753

Which industries are growing?

One weighted industry is growing

Only weighted industries with a published positive New York employment change are listed.

  • Financial activities+0.5%

The remaining weighted industries published a flat or negative change in January to March 2026.

Current New York context

Current New York Market Signals

Statewide indicators for all occupations in New York. They are not Driver/sales workers demand and are not part of the Job Market Health score.

Statewide job postings

Indeed job postings · New York

Recent hiring-demand context · separate from the health score

90.1Postings index · February 1, 2020 = 100Observation: Oct 23, 2026
-9.9%Versus the February 2020 baseline
+0.2%Change over about four weeksSep 25, 2026 to Oct 23, 2026

Total postings index (seasonally adjusted) by observation date · baseline 100

The chart will load automatically. Published values remain available in this report.

View values: Indeed postings index
Indeed postings index
Observation dateIndex (Feb 2020 = 100)
Jul 24, 202688.69
Jul 31, 202688.67
Aug 7, 202688.64
Aug 14, 202688.76
Aug 21, 202689.60
Aug 28, 202689.18
Sep 4, 202689.09
Sep 11, 202689.95
Sep 18, 202689.43
Sep 25, 202689.87
Oct 2, 202690.02
Oct 9, 202689.76
Oct 16, 202689.72
Oct 23, 202690.08

This is statewide demand across all occupations, not demand for this specific job. Postings are not a count of vacancies or hires, and Indeed does not cover the entire labor market.

Source: Indeed Hiring Lab · CC BY 4.0. Seven-day average, seasonally adjusted; publisher refreshes weekly and may revise history. Retrieved Nov 1, 2026 · saved source copy. JobMarketHealth calculates the displayed changes and samples weekly observations for the chart.

Explore states and career fields · Methodology and limits

Statewide layoff notices

Statewide layoff-notice filings

New York statewide

18 notices in this source

Notice dates from Aug 5, 2026 to Nov 2, 2026 (UTC), a rolling 90-calendar-day period.

What this means: These are statewide totals from notices dated in this period in New York’s official tracking system. Reported positions are the counts published in those notices, not a count of people confirmed to have lost their jobs. No employer is identified.

Notices describe planned workforce changes, not confirmed job losses. Notices may be amended or withdrawn. This statewide context is not occupation-specific and does not affect the Job Market Health score. New York’s state tracking system also records smaller Rapid Response events that fall below federal WARN thresholds, so it is not a list of federal WARN filings only.

New York State Department of Labor About WARN data

Source last checked

Career context

Related roles from the occupation’s published O*NET profile.

Questions answered by this release

Driver/sales workers in New York FAQs

Each answer is limited to what QCEW 2026 Q1 actually publishes for this state.

Is employment growing for Driver/sales workers in New York?

The available QCEW measure is not direct occupation employment. Employment across the New York industries weighted to Driver/sales workers changed -0.7% year over year in January to March 2026, compared with -0.2% nationwide.

Are wages for Driver/sales workers rising in New York?

QCEW does not publish pay for Driver/sales workers in this view. Average weekly wages across the weighted industries changed +3.2% year over year; that must not be read as an occupation salary change.

How complete is this New York industry view?

The three core state trends each meet the site’s coverage floor; the minimum published coverage is 100% of the occupation’s industry mix.

Does this page show current Driver/sales workers openings?

No. QCEW measures industry employment, establishments and wages. Any postings, news or WARN figures shown here are statewide context and are not occupation-specific openings.

Methodology & sourcesQCEW 2026 Q1 · coverage 100% · full evidence record

Methodology & Sources

Derived by JobMarketHealth from BLS QCEW + published occupation industry mix. This is occupation-weighted industry context, not direct occupation employment and not a count of current job openings.

Occupation
Driver/sales workers
SOC code
53-3031
State
New York
QCEW release label
QCEW 2026 Q1
Data period
2026 Q1
State industry employment, year over year
-0.7%State data coverage 100%
U.S. benchmark, year over year
-0.2%
Difference from U.S. benchmark
-0.5 percentage pointsPercentage-point gaps use the original published values and are rounded once; subtracting the rounded percentages can give a slightly different result.
Establishments, year over year
-3.5%State data coverage 100%
Average weekly industry wage, year over year
+3.2%State data coverage 100%
Industry mix vintage
EP-2025-2035
BLS publication date
Aug 28, 2026
Source verification
Verified against the committed source snapshotVerified Sep 17, 2026
Canonical record URL
https://jobmarkethealth.com/occupations/driver-sales-workers/new-york#evidence-record
Derived by
JobMarketHealth from BLS QCEW + published occupation industry mix

Weighted industry conditions are not direct occupation employment, occupation wages, current openings or a state-level Job Market Health score. No causal explanation is inferred.

Driver/sales workers in other states