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Educational Services: NAICS 61

About the Educational Services sector

The educational services sector is part of the education and health services supersector.

The Educational Services sector comprises establishments that provide instruction and training in a wide variety of subjects. This instruction and training is provided by specialized establishments, such as schools, colleges, universities, and training centers. These establishments may be privately owned and operated for profit or not for profit, or they may be publicly owned and operated. They may also offer food and/or accommodation services to their students.

Educational services are usually delivered by teachers or instructors that explain, tell, demonstrate, supervise, and direct learning. Instruction is imparted in diverse settings, such as educational institutions, the workplace, or the home, and through diverse means, such as correspondence, television, the Internet, or other electronic and distance-learning methods. The training provided by these establishments may include the use of simulators and simulation methods. It can be adapted to the particular needs of the students, for example sign language can replace verbal language for teaching students with hearing impairments. All industries in the sector share this commonality of process, namely, labor inputs of instructors with the requisite subject matter expertise and teaching ability.

North American Industry Classification System

The educational services sector consists of a single subsector, Educational Services: NAICS 611. Data published under either the sector or subsector classification are included in the tables below. The subsector consists of these industry groups:

  • Elementary and Secondary Schools: NAICS 6111
  • Junior Colleges: NAICS 6112
  • Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools: NAICS 6113
  • Business Schools and Computer and Management Training: NAICS 6114
  • Technical and Trade Schools: NAICS 6115
  • Other Schools and Instruction: NAICS 6116
  • Educational Support Services: NAICS 6117

Workforce Statistics

This section provides information relating to employment and unemployment in educational services. While most data are obtained from employer or establishment surveys, information on industry unemployment comes from a national survey of households. The following tables present an overview of the industry including the number of jobs, the unemployment rate of those previously employed in the industry, job openings and labor turnover, union membership and representation, data for occupations common to the industry, and projections of occupational employment change.

Employment, Unemployment, and Openings, Hires, and Separations

Data series Back
data
Nov.
2024
Dec.
2024
Jan.
2025
Feb.
2025

Employment (in thousands)

Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)

3,984.8 3,992.1 (p)3,994.1 (p)4,003.7

Unemployment

Unemployment rate

3.8% 2.9% 3.6% 3.0%

Job openings, hires, and separations (in thousands)

Job openings

161 135 (p)142  

Hires

58 46 (p)91  

Separations

56 76 (p)69  

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics, Current Population Survey, Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey)

Union Membership and Representation

Data series Back
data
2021 2022 2023 2024

Union membership and representation

Members of unions (percent of wage and salary workers)

12.9% 12.4% 12.9% 13.2%

Represented by unions (percent of wage and salary workers)

15.2% 14.4% 14.8% 15.5%

(Source: Current Population Survey)

Employment by Occupation

Data series Employment,
2023

Education administrators, elementary and secondary school

297,070

Elementary school teachers, except special education

1,406,220

Middle school teachers, except special and vocational education

625,650

Secondary school teachers, except special and vocational education

1,038,950

Teacher assistants

1,141,550

Note: These employment estimates include employment in both the private-sector and government.

(Source: Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics)

Projections

For projected (future) employment estimates, see the National Employment Matrix, which includes employment estimates by industry and occupation for educational services.

(Source: Office of Occupational Statistics and Employment Projections)

Earnings and Hours

Weekly earnings by union membership status are shown. Recent hourly and annual earnings for occupations commonly found in educational services. This section also contains information on the average cost of benefits paid by employers, as well as recent rates of change in wages and total compensation.

Earnings by Occupation

Data series Wages, 2023
Hourly Annual
Median Mean Median Mean

Education administrators, elementary and secondary school

(1)-$ (1)-$ $103,460 $111,040

Elementary school teachers, except special education

(1)-$ (1)-$ $63,690 $70,780

Middle school teachers, except special and vocational education

(1)-$ (1)-$ $64,290 $71,480

Secondary school teachers, except special and vocational education

(1)-$ (1)-$ $65,260 $73,850

Teacher assistants

(1)-$ (1)-$ $36,050 $36,860

Footnotes
(1) Wages for some occupations that do not generally work year-round, full time, are reported either as hourly wages or annual salaries depending on how they are typically paid.

(Source: Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics)

Employee Benefits

This section presents data on the incidence (the percentage of workers with access to and participation in employer-provided benefit plans) and provisions of selected employee benefits from the National Compensation Survey. More Benefits estimates are also accessible from the Benefits database, the archived NCS publications page, and the complete Employee Benefits Excel dataset (XLSX).

Data series Access Participation
Back
data
2024 Back
data
2024

Private industry

Retirement benefit plans

70 60

Defined benefit plans

17 11

Defined contribution plans

65 54

State and local government

Retirement benefit plans

93 82

Defined benefit plans

90 78

Defined contribution plans

37 16

(Source: Employee Benefits in the United States)

Data series After 1 year of service After 20 years of service
Back
data
2024 Back
data
2024

Mean number of vacation days for workers without consolidated leave plans

Private industry

11 16

State and local government

14 21

(Source: Employee Benefits in the United States)

Data series Private industry State and local government
Back
data
2024 Back
data
2024

Percent of workers with access to employer-sponsored benefits

Health care

72 90

Paid vacation

70 34

Paid sick leave

83 93

(Source: Employee Benefits in the United States)

Employer Compensation Costs

Data series Back
data
1st quarter
2024
2nd quarter
2024
3rd quarter
2024
4th quarter
2024

Private industry

12-month percent change

Total compensation

4.5% 4.6% 4.7% 3.9%

Wages and salaries

4.6% 4.7% 4.8% 4.1%

3-month percent change

Total compensation

1.2% 0.6% 2.1% -0.1%

Wages and salaries

1.2% 0.6% 2.1% 0.1%

State and local government

12-month percent change

Total compensation

4.3% 4.5% 4.3% 4.2%

Wages and salaries

4.6% 4.7% 4.4% 4.2%

3-month percent change

Total compensation

0.8% 0.5% 2.3% 0.5%

Wages and salaries

0.7% 0.4% 2.5% 0.5%

(Source: Compensation Cost Trends)

Data series Private industry State and local government
Compensation component
($ per hour worked)
Percent of total compensation Compensation component
($ per hour worked)
Percent of total compensation
Back
data
4th quarter 2024 Back
data
4th quarter 2024 Back
data
4th quarter 2024 Back
data
4th quarter 2024

Total compensation

55.54 100.0 67.32 100.0

Wages and salaries

40.10 72.2 43.23 64.2

Total benefits

15.44 27.8 24.09 35.8

Insurance

4.05 7.3 7.38 11.0

Retirement

2.65 4.8 9.16 13.6

Paid leave

4.52 8.1 3.99 5.9

(Source: Compensation Cost Trends)

Union Membership and Representation

Data series Back
data
Median weekly earnings
2021 2022 2023 2024

Union membership and representation

Full-time workers

$1,110 $1,152 $1,193 $1,236

Members of unions

$1,143 $1,197 $1,329 $1,341

Represented by unions

$1,133 $1,180 $1,321 $1,328

Nonunion

$1,105 $1,146 $1,168 $1,222

(Source: Current Population Survey)

Work-related Fatalities, Injuries, and Illnesses

This section presents data for the industry on the number of workplace fatalities and the rates of workplace injuries and illnesses per 100 full-time workers in educational services. An injury or illness is considered to be work-related if an event or exposure in the work environment either caused or contributed to the resulting condition or significantly aggravated a pre-existing condition.

Data series 2020 2021 2022 2023

Fatalities

Number of fatalities

      103

There was a series break beginning with 2023 data due to NAICS 2022. Data for years prior to 2023 are available at www.bls.gov/iif.

Data series 2023

Rate of injury and illness cases per 100 full-time workers

Total recordable cases

1.7

Cases involving days away from work, job restriction, or transfer

0.8

Cases involving days away from work

0.6

Cases involving days of job transfer or restriction

0.2

Blank cells indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria.

(Source: Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities)

Workplace Trends

This section presents data on the number of establishments in educational services.

Establishments

Data series Back
data
4th quarter
2023
1st quarter
2024
2nd quarter
2024
3rd quarter
2024

Number of establishments

Private industry

164,931 (p)167,115 (p)168,605 (p)170,422

Local government

66,420 (p)66,349 (p)66,371 (p)66,464

State government

8,313 (p)8,381 (p)8,432 (p)8,359

Federal government

188 (p)197 (p)197 (p)197

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(Source: Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages)

Productivity

This section presents productivity and related data for the industry, presented as the percent change from the previous year. Measures of total factor productivity (TFP) compare growth in output to the growth in a combination of inputs that include labor, capital, energy, materials, and services. Measures of labor productivity, or output per hour, compare the growth in output to the growth in hours worked.

Data series Back
data
2020 2021 2022 2023

Total factor productivity (TFP)

-6.5 0.3 3.4 1.4

Output

-14.7 6.5 15.3 8.1

Combined inputs

-8.8 6.3 11.5 6.6

Capital input

0.6 1.5 1.5 1.2

Labor input

-8.1 4.9 4.3 0.8

Labor productivity, output per hour

-5.6 1.4 10.3 6.5

(Source: Productivity)

 

Data extracted on: March 21, 2025