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Professional and Business Services

About the Professional and Business Services supersector

The professional and business services supersector is part of the service-providing industries supersector group.

The professional and business services supersector consists of these sectors:

Workforce Statistics

This section provides information relating to employment and unemployment in professional and business 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, gross job gains and losses, and projections of occupational employment change.

Employment, Unemployment, and Openings, Hires, and Separations

Data series Back
data
Nov.
2023
Dec.
2023
Jan.
2024
Feb.
2024

Employment (in thousands)

Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)

22,869 22,882 (p)22,922 (p)22,931

Employment, production and nonsupervisory employees (seasonally adjusted)

18,033 18,033 (p)18,085 (p)18,080

Unemployment

Unemployment rate

3.9% 3.9% 4.3% 5.1%

Job openings, hires, and separations (in thousands)

Job openings

1,427 1,493 (p)1,785  

Hires

890 864 (p)1,167  

Separations

897 1,071 (p)1,129  

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

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

Union Membership and Representation

Data series Back
data
2020 2021 2022 2023

Union membership and representation

Members of unions (percent of wage and salary workers)

2.2% 2.2% 2.2% 2.3%

Represented by unions (percent of wage and salary workers)

3.0% 2.9% 2.8% 3.0%

(Source: Current Population Survey)

Dynamic Changes in Employment

Data series Back
data
3rd quarter
2022
4th quarter
2022
1st quarter
2023
2nd quarter
2023

Dynamic changes in employment (in thousands)

Gross job gains

1,776 1,520 1,475 1,497

Gross job losses

1,501 1,601 1,422 1,578

(Source: Business Employment Dynamics)

Projections

For projected (future) employment estimates in professional and business services, see the Employment and projected employment by major industry sector table.

(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. This section also contains information on recent rates of change in wages and total compensation.

Earnings and Hours of All Employees

Data series Back
data
Nov.
2023
Dec.
2023
Jan.
2024
Feb.
2024

Average hourly earnings

$41.12 $41.24 (p)$41.43 (p)$41.53

Average weekly hours

36.5 36.4 (p)36.3 (p)36.4

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings and Hours of Production and Nonsupervisory Employees

Data series Back
data
Nov.
2023
Dec.
2023
Jan.
2024
Feb.
2024

Average hourly earnings

$34.69 $34.77 (p)$34.95 (p)$34.96

Average weekly hours

36.3 36.3 (p)36.1 (p)36.3

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment 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
2023 Back
data
2023

Private industry

Retirement benefit plans

69 56

Defined benefit plans

10 6

Defined contribution plans

68 54

(Source: Employee Benefits in the United States)

Data series After 1 year of service After 20 years of service
Back
data
2023 Back
data
2023

Mean number of vacation days for private industry workers without consolidated leave plans

9 17

(Source: Employee Benefits in the United States)

Data series Back
data
2023

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

Health care

77

Paid vacation

82

Paid sick leave

84

(Source: Employee Benefits in the United States)

Employer Compensation Costs

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

Private industry

12-month percent change

Total compensation

5.1% 4.5% 4.3% 3.7%

Wages and salaries

5.2% 4.4% 4.2% 3.7%

3-month percent change

Total compensation

1.7% 0.8% 0.9% 0.2%

Wages and salaries

1.6% 0.7% 1.1% 0.2%

(Source: Compensation Cost Trends)

Data series Private industry
Compensation component
($ per hour worked)
Percent of total compensation
Back
data
4th quarter 2023 Back
data
4th quarter 2023

Total compensation

56.06 100.0

Wages and salaries

39.42 70.3

Total benefits

16.65 29.7

Insurance

3.82 6.8

Retirement

1.65 2.9

Paid leave

4.67 8.3

(Source: Compensation Cost Trends)

Union Membership and Representation

Data series Back
data
Median weekly earnings
2020 2021 2022 2023

Union membership and representation

Full-time workers

$1,220 $1,241 $1,353 $1,407

Members of unions

$960 $1,023 $1,091 $987

Represented by unions

$993 $1,017 $1,112 $1,052

Nonunion

$1,228 $1,249 $1,362 $1,417

(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 professional and business 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 2019 2020 2021 2022

Fatalities

Number of fatalities

    570 619

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

Data series 2022

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

Total recordable cases

1.2

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

0.7

Cases involving days away from work

0.5

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 and the number of establishments experiencing job gains or job losses in professional and business services.

Establishments

Data series Back
data
4th quarter
2022
1st quarter
2023
2nd quarter
2023
3rd quarter
2023

Number of establishments

Private industry

2,383,513 (p)2,408,210 (p)2,439,137 (p)2,474,551

Local government

4,646 (p)4,712 (p)4,728 (p)4,740

State government

1,212 (p)1,195 (p)1,201 (p)1,218

Federal government

1,439 (p)1,437 (p)1,441 (p)1,445

Establishments with changes in employment (in thousands)

With job gains (seasonally adjusted)

444 435 426  

With job losses (seasonally adjusted)

435 411 438  

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(Source: Business Employment Dynamics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages)

 

Data extracted on: March 15, 2024