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Information: NAICS 51

About the Information sector

The information sector is part of the service-providing industries supersector group.

The Information sector comprises establishments engaged in the following processes: (a) producing and distributing information and cultural products, (b) providing the means to transmit or distribute these products as well as data or communications, and (c) processing data.

The main components of this sector are the publishing industries, including software publishing, and both traditional publishing and publishing exclusively on the Internet; the motion picture and sound recording industries; the broadcasting industries, including traditional broadcasting and those broadcasting exclusively over the Internet; the telecommunications industries; Web search portals, data processing industries, and the information services industries.

The Information sector groups three types of establishments: (1) those engaged in producing and distributing information and cultural products; (2) those that provide the means to transmit or distribute these products as well as data or communications; and (3) those that process data.

North American Industry Classification System

The information sector consists of these subsectors:

NOTE: The NAICS 2002 subsector Internet Publishing and Broadcasting: NAICS 516 has been discontinued in NAICS 2007 and the establishments that had been classified in this subsector have been moved into Other Information Services: NAICS 519.

Workforce Statistics

This section provides information relating to employment and unemployment in information. 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, gross job gains and losses, data for occupations common to the industry, and projections of occupational employment change.

Employment, Unemployment, and Openings, Hires, and Separations

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

Employment (in thousands)

Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)

2,922 2,927 (p)2,943 (p)2,945

Employment, production and nonsupervisory employees (seasonally adjusted)

2,352 2,352 (p)2,371 (p)2,355

Unemployment

Unemployment rate

2.7% 2.3% 3.9% 5.7%

Job openings, hires, and separations (in thousands)

Job openings

211 111 (p)104  

Hires

83 72 (p)52  

Separations

74 71 (p)70  

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)

10.0% 8.4% 7.4% 6.6%

Represented by unions (percent of wage and salary workers)

11.1% 9.1% 7.8% 7.6%

(Source: Current Population Survey)

Dynamic Changes in Employment

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

Dynamic changes in employment (in thousands)

Gross job gains

134 157 146 130

Gross job losses

197 160 139 175

(Source: Business Employment Dynamics)

Employment by Occupation

Data series Employment,
2023

Customer service representatives

124,600

Telecommunications equipment installers and repairers, except line installers

109,320

(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 information.

(Source: Office of Occupational Statistics and Employment Projections)

Earnings and Hours

This section presents data on employee earnings and weekly hours. The latest industry averages of hourly earnings and weekly hours, as well as weekly earnings by union membership status, are shown. In addition, recent hourly and annual earnings are shown for occupations commonly found in information. 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 and Hours of All Employees

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

Average hourly earnings

$51.48 $51.40 (p)$51.12 (p)$51.71

Average weekly hours

37.2 36.7 (p)36.8 (p)36.5

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings and Hours of Production and Nonsupervisory Employees

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

Average hourly earnings

$41.78 $41.75 (p)$41.57 (p)$41.77

Average weekly hours

35.6 35.7 (p)35.7 (p)35.6

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings by Occupation

Data series Wages, 2023
Hourly Annual
Median Mean Median Mean

Customer service representatives

$22.33 $24.95 $46,450 $51,900

Telecommunications equipment installers and repairers, except line installers

$30.69 $32.16 $63,840 $66,890

(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

92 83

Defined benefit plans

24 18

Defined contribution plans

91 82

(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 private industry workers without consolidated leave plans

12 22

(Source: Employee Benefits in the United States)

Data series Back
data
2024

Percent of private industry workers with access to employer-sponsored benefits

Health care

93

Paid vacation

96

Paid sick leave

97

(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

3.2% 2.0% 3.1% 2.6%

Wages and salaries

2.9% 2.1% 3.5% 2.9%

3-month percent change

Total compensation

1.3% -0.1% 1.2% 0.2%

Wages and salaries

1.0% 0.1% 1.5% 0.3%

(Source: Compensation Cost Trends)

Data series Private industry
Compensation component
($ per hour worked)
Percent of total compensation
Back
data
3rd quarter 2024 Back
data
3rd quarter 2024

Total compensation

76.71 100.0

Wages and salaries

49.51 64.5

Total benefits

27.20 35.5

Insurance

6.99 9.1

Retirement

3.49 4.6

Paid leave

7.89 10.3

(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

$1,378 $1,501 $1,572 $1,728

Members of unions

$1,568 $1,610 $1,689 $1,613

Represented by unions

$1,527 $1,587 $1,702 $1,584

Nonunion

$1,370 $1,492 $1,562 $1,751

(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 information. 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

      29

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

1.0

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

0.6

Cases involving days away from work

0.5

Cases involving days of job transfer or restriction

0.1

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

(Source: Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities)

Prices

This section provides industry-specific pricing information. The producer price index measures the percentage change in prices that domestic producers receive for goods and services. The prices included in the producer price index are from the first commercial transaction.

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

Producer price index

(p)116.814 (p)116.754 (p)116.457 (p)117.751

Percent change from previous month

  (p)0.6% (p)-0.1% (p)-0.3% (p)1.1%

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(Source: Producer Price Indexes)

Workplace Trends

This section presents data on the number of establishments and the number of establishments experiencing job gains or job losses in information.

Establishments

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

Number of establishments

Private industry

287,113 290,457 (p)295,397 (p)299,176

Local government

5,106 5,106 (p)5,134 (p)5,140

State government

306 306 (p)305 (p)306

Federal government

151 146 (p)145 (p)149

Establishments with changes in employment (in thousands)

With job gains (seasonally adjusted)

44 42 42 43

With job losses (seasonally adjusted)

50 50 44 51

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(Source: Business Employment Dynamics, 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)

1.5 4.1 -0.1 2.5

Output

3.7 11.1 6.9 4.0

Combined inputs

2.2 6.7 7.0 1.5

Capital input

5.4 5.4 7.4 7.6

Labor input

-4.6 7.6 5.5 -1.7

Labor productivity, output per hour

10.3 4.0 1.5 6.3

(Source: Productivity)

 

Data extracted on: February 14, 2025