Before the recession started, sales jobs were everywhere and they paid high wages even if you didn’t have a degree. This all changed when the hard economic times hit and businesses were forced to start laying off sales members. Those without degrees were generally the first to go. Not only did many employees lose their jobs but a lot of businesses couldn’t afford to offer their employees a commission on sales they made. Commission was a huge part of a sales person’s income, so losing this made the pay seem much less.
Although it may sound like pursuing a career in sales is bleak, this definitely isn’t the case. The economy is starting to turn around and jobs are starting to open up and wages are slowly increasing. Finding the right sales job for you is all dependent on the city in which you’re looking for work. When picking a city for a career in sales, it’s important to find a one that has a high number of job openings as well as high wages. If you only look for jobs in cities with high wages there could be tons of competition that makes it almost impossible to find work. Let’s look at the top ten cities for sales jobs as compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. [1]
New York City, New York
Current employed positions: 569,810
Average hourly wage: $27.84
Los Angeles, California
Current employed positions: 423,720
Average hourly wage: $19.58
Chicago, Illinois
Current employed positions: 399,420
Average hourly wage: $21.10
Houston, Texas
Current employed positions: 301,900
Average hourly wage: $21.63
Atlanta, Georgia
Current employed positions: 265,740
Average hourly wage: $20.01
Dallas, Texas
Current employed positions: 254,350
Average wage: $21.57
Phoenix, Arizona
Current employed positions: 216,040
Average wage: $18.12
Washington D.C.
Current employed positions: 204,390
Average wage: $20.20
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Current employed positions: 196, 690
Average wage: $21.85
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Current employed positions: 184,160
Average wage: $21.01
Resources:
[1] http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes410000.htm
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