Updated
PERM occupation, SOC 11-3061, #366 of 1,410 by filings
Purchasing Managers
- Biggest sponsor
- AMAZON DATA SERVICES, INC. · 5% of its filings
- Busiest state
- CA · 25% of its filings
- Major group
- Management · SOC 11
Weighing an offer for this job?
Where it falls among certified offers, and the four wage levels DOL sets for it by area.
This rate is level with the field
Over 74 decided filings, this rate can't be told apart from the field in either direction.
Why
The 95% interval runs up to a 11.3% denial rate, which still covers the 3.20% the field as a whole records.
Median wage
$131,636
all PERM $103,272
Filings
76
#366 of 1,410
Approval
95.9%
field 96.8%
Median days
385
92 faster than the field
What it pays
Where its median offer sits among every occupation, then the whole ladder of certified offers by year and by state.
Median offered wage
$131,636above 85%
Approval rate
95.9%ahead of 46%
Median days to decision
385 daysahead of 89%
Each bar counts occupations at that value. More
Who files it
The sponsors and firms with the most PERM filings under this code, the places the work sits, and who the workers were.
Sponsors filing it
- AMAZON DATA SERVICES, INC. 4 filings
- RIVIAN AUTOMOTIVE, LLC 4 filings
- SIEMENS MEDICAL SOLUTIONS USA, INC. 2 filings
- SL ALABAMA, LLC 2 filings
- VALEO NORTH AMERICA, INC. 2 filings
- ALEPH GRAPHICS INC. 1 filings
How this is counted
The employers with the most applications under this code. 15 of 76 filings, 20% of the total.
Firms filing it
- Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen Loewy, LLP 12 filings
- Berry Appleman Leiden LLP 8 filings
- Seyfarth Shaw, LLP 3 filings
- Honigman LLP 2 filings
- Masuda, Funai, Eifert Mitchell, Ltd. 2 filings
- Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak Stewart, P.C. 2 filings
How this is counted
The law firms named on the most applications under this code. 29 of 76 filings, 38% of the total.
Where the jobs are
- California 19
- Florida 9
- Texas 7
- Michigan 6
- Washington 6
- Alabama 3
How this is counted
The worksite state on the application, which is where the job is and not where the company is headquartered. Volume by state across everyone is on the state map. These 6 states cover 50 of 76 filings.
Where the work is
- Seattle, WA 5
- Doral, FL 3
- Irvine, CA 3
- Alexander City, AL 2
- Auburn Hills, MI 2
- Dallas, TX 2
How this is counted
The worksite city on the application, which is where the job is. These 6 cities cover 17 of 76 filings.
- Every sponsor that files it, by state, approval rate, offered wage and time to a decision
- Every filing for it, PERM, wage requests and H-1B, case by case
Who filled these jobs, FY2016 to FY2023
From DOL's old form; the form in use since mid-2023 doesn't carry them. Top six of each.
Country of citizenship
- India 259
- China 100
- South Korea 73
- Mexico 70
- Brazil 62
- Canada 49
Worker's education
- Master's 460
- Bachelor's 375
- None 104
- Other 26
- High School 16
- Associate's 13
Visa held when filed
- H-1B 489
- L-1 162
- E-2 80
- F-1 44
- TN 34
- NOT IN USA 24
Schools
- MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY 22
- NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY 21
- ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY 19
- THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY 12
- UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN 12
- MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY 10
Fields of study
- BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION 236
- INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING 65
- MECHANICAL ENGINEERING 43
- SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT 22
- ECONOMICS 20
- INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS 15
The job itself
What O*NET says the work is, what the market pays it by BLS's survey, its outlook, and DOL's wage levels year by year.
- United States84,320 jobs
- Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WASeattle
- Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FLDoral
- Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CAIrvine
- Northeast Alabama nonmetropolitan areaAlexander City
- Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MIAuburn Hills
- middle half of pay (BLS)
- median
- 10th to 90th percentile
- DOL's Levels I to IV, left to right
- median PERM offer
| Area | BLS median | Level I | Level II | Level III | Level IV |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | $148,080 | ||||
| Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA | $165,430 | $124,550 | $149,136 | $173,722 | $198,307 |
| Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL | $131,400 | $82,971 | $110,947 | $138,923 | $166,899 |
| Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA | $156,400 | $107,598 | $134,576 | $161,574 | $188,552 |
| Northeast Alabama nonmetropolitan area | — | $75,962 | $94,182 | $112,382 | $130,603 |
| Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI | $163,660 | $111,842 | $138,154 | $164,445 | $190,757 |
How these figures fit together
BLS surveys employers on what they pay everyone in a job; DOL builds its four levels from the same survey a year later (the July 2026 wage year uses BLS's May 2025 estimates). DOL publishes levels by area, not nationally, so the United States line has none. Levels are hourly in DOL's tables; here they're shown a year at 2,080 hours, as DOL computes them. The metros are the ones holding the most of this job's PERM filings, placed by Census's county files.
The block is the middle half of what employers report paying everyone in this job, citizen or not; the ticks under it are DOL's four prevailing wage levels for that metro, the floors a PERM or H-1B offer is held to. More
DOL's levels for this job in Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA, year by year
Each July DOL resets the four levels from BLS's newest survey. A determination keeps the figures of the year it was issued in.
| Wage year | Level I | Level II | Level III | Level IV |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-27 | $124,550 | $149,136 | $173,722 | $198,307 |
| 2025-26 | $123,698 | $149,552 | $175,386 | $201,240 |
| 2024-25 | $111,259 | $135,491 | $159,744 | $183,976 |
| 2023-24 | $118,789 | $140,150 | $161,533 | $182,894 |
| 2022-23 | $113,506 | $133,806 | $154,128 | $174,429 |
| 2021-22 | $105,955 | $127,546 | $149,157 | $170,747 |
What the job is
Plan, direct, or coordinate the activities of buyers, purchasing officers, and related workers involved in purchasing materials, products, and services. Includes wholesale or retail trade merchandising managers and procurement managers.
- Preparation
- Considerable Preparation Needed
- O*NET Job Zone 4
- DOL's education basis
- Bachelor's degree
- Wage year 2026-27, on DOL's Appendix A list
- Jobs, 2025 to 2035
- +4.0%
- About 6,400 openings a year (BLS)
- Typical entry
- Bachelor's degree
- 5 years or more of related work (BLS)
The work, most important first
- Develop and implement purchasing and contract management instructions, policies, and procedures.
- Locate vendors of materials, equipment or supplies, and interview them to determine product availability and terms of sales.
- Prepare bid awards requiring board approval.
- Direct and coordinate activities of personnel engaged in buying, selling, and distributing materials, equipment, machinery, and supplies.
- Review purchase order claims and contracts for conformance to company policy.
- Review, evaluate, and approve specifications for issuing and awarding bids.
The education workers in it report
- 5%
High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED)
- 16%
Post-Secondary Certificate
- 5%
Some College Courses
- 11%
Associate's Degree or other 2-year degree
- 53%
Bachelor's Degree
- 11%
Master's Degree
Titles people use for it
Materials Manager, Procurement Manager, Purchasing Director, Purchasing Manager, Category Purchasing Manager, Commodity Manager, Materials Director, Procurement Director.
Related jobs: Procurement Clerks, Purchasing Agents, Except Wholesale, Retail, and Farm Products, Wholesale and Retail Buyers, Except Farm Products, Logistics Analysts, Logisticians, Supply Chain Managers.
This section includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database and O*NET OnLine by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. PERM Tracker has modified some of this information (the shares are rounded and only the top tasks are shown); what changed. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.
Against other jobs
Where this sits in the ranking
Ranked 366 of 1,410 by volume: 365 filed at least as many filings, and 1,044 filed no more.
- Just above
- Stonemasons 76 filings
- Just below
- Front Desk Agent 75 filings
Other management roles
Occupations sharing this one's SOC major group, which is carried in the first two digits of the code. More
Occupations sharing this one's SOC major group, which is carried in the first two digits of the code. Wages inside a group still swing hard, because the group holds every seniority level and every metro.
- #361 Advertising and Promotions Managers 77 filings · 1 denied
- #374 Education Administrators, Postsecondary 73 filings · 2 denied
- #375 Lodging Managers 73 filings · 3 denied
- #347 Social and Community Service Managers 81 filings · 3 denied
- #395 SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGER 67 filings · 5 denied
- #396 Chief Executives 67 filings · 7 denied
The same job on H-1B
1,813 certified H-1B labor condition applications for this occupation since FY2020, offering a median of $137,404 a year; the middle half ran $112,546 to $165,000. By state and year in the salary explorer.
Notes on these numbers
Reading the wage
A floor, not a salary survey: every level and metro mixed. DOL's four wage levels for this job, by area.
What the median is
The median wage employers committed to in federal filings for this occupation. It mixes every experience level and every metro, and it's a floor: the employer must offer at least the prevailing wage DOL determines for the occupation, level and county. Across all PERM filings the middle half of offered wages runs $45,178 to $141,357, so a figure inside that band is unremarkable whichever occupation it belongs to. The levels page reads DOL's OFLC wage search live.
What these numbers don't say
4 notes
- The code is the identity
- This one is SOC 11-3061. Two SOC codes can carry the same job title, so a title that looks duplicated on the ranking is two different occupations. Match on the code when you're checking a specific filing.
- A median isn’t an offer
- It's the middle of all 76 wages committed to for this occupation across the country, entry level and principal alike. The same role's medians swing hard by worksite, which the state map shows directly.
- Approval isn’t about the occupation
- The denial rate moves with what happened in the filing rather than with the job title, so nothing here is a property of Purchasing Managers. The measured factors are on the denial risk page, published as separate rates.
- Nothing here is pending
- All 76 counted here carry a decision date, because every case in DOL's disclosure files does, so a case still waiting is in none of them. The largest filer of this occupation is AMAZON DATA SERVICES, INC.. Where the queue stands today is on the processing times page.
The window these figures cover: DOL's PERM disclosure files for fiscal years 2024 to 2026, through the third quarter of 2026, 373,939 decided cases. Nothing pending is counted here. How each figure is built
Weighing an offer?
Compare it against this median, then check the state map, where the same occupation's medians swing hard by worksite.
Setting one?
All 1,410 occupations sort together on the wages page, and denial rates show how outcome moves with the offered wage.
Filings newer than DOL's last published file can't be attributed to this occupation until DOL publishes them. The live list on the case search page carries them by employer.
Case data: DOL quarterly disclosure files (flag.dol.gov) · data through Jun 30, 2026 · quarterly
Employers and firms: Derived from DOL's disclosure files · data through Jun 30, 2026 · rebuilt with each quarterly load
O*NET occupation data: O*NET Database, USDOL/ETA (onetcenter.org) · data through Aug 16, 2026 · twice a year
BLS market pay: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (bls.gov) · data through May 31, 2025 · yearly, each spring
BLS employment projections: BLS Employment Projections (bls.gov) · data through Dec 31, 2025 · yearly, each autumn
DOL wage tables: DOL OFLC wage data downloads (flag.dol.gov) · data through Jul 1, 2026 · yearly, each july
What each source includes
Case data: Decided PERM cases only. A case still waiting isn't in here, so counts and durations describe finished cases.
Employers and firms: Employers, law firms and occupations ranked from decided cases only.
O*NET occupation data: What O*NET says each occupation is and takes: its description, tasks, Job Zone and the education workers report. A description of the job everywhere, not of any one employer's opening.
BLS market pay: What employers report paying everyone in each job, nationally, by state and by metro, from BLS's yearly survey (May of the year named). Citizens and immigrants alike; not PERM offers.
BLS employment projections: BLS's ten-year projection of each job's employment and yearly openings, and the entry education it calls typical. A projection, not a count.
DOL wage tables: The four prevailing wage levels DOL publishes for every job in every area, each wage year from 2021-22, as DOL's own tables print them. The floors an offer is held to, not what anyone was paid.
Cite this page
Waiting on a PERM case?
- When it'll likely be decided
- An email when DOL moves it