Education and Health Services

About the Education and Health Services supersector

The education and health services supersector is part of the service-providing industries supersector group.

The education and health services supersector consists of these sectors:

• Educational Services: NAICS 61
• Health Care and Social Assistance: NAICS 62

Workforce Statistics

This section provides information relating to employment and unemployment in education and health 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	Aug. 2024	Sep. 2024	Oct. 2024	Nov. 2024
Employment (in thousands)
Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)		26,470	26,561	(p)26,628	(p)26,707
Employment, production and nonsupervisory employees (seasonally adjusted)		23,113	23,202	(p)23,273	(p)23,341
Unemployment
Unemployment rate		3.7%	3.1%	3.1%	3.0%
Job openings, hires, and separations (in thousands)
Job openings		1,585	1,414	(p)1,577
Hires		949	901	(p)956
Separations		840	716	(p)812
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)		8.4%	7.9%	7.8%	8.1%
Represented by unions (percent of wage and salary workers)		9.7%	9.2%	9.0%	9.3%

(Source: Current Population Survey)

Dynamic Changes in Employment

Data series	Back data	2nd quarter 2023	3rd quarter 2023	4th quarter 2023	1st quarter 2024
Dynamic changes in employment (in thousands)
Gross job gains		1,274	1,246	1,184	1,196
Gross job losses		980	971	1,024	921

(Source: Business Employment Dynamics)

Projections

For projected (future) employment estimates in education and health 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 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	Aug. 2024	Sep. 2024	Oct. 2024	Nov. 2024
Average hourly earnings		$34.38	$34.52	(p)$34.61	(p)$34.68
Average weekly hours		33.1	33.1	(p)33.0	(p)33.1
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings and Hours of Production and Nonsupervisory Employees

Data series	Back data	Aug. 2024	Sep. 2024	Oct. 2024	Nov. 2024
Average hourly earnings		$31.57	$31.68	(p)$31.74	(p)$31.78
Average weekly hours		32.2	32.2	(p)32.2	(p)32.2
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	2024	Back data	2024
Private industry
Retirement benefit plans		74		61
Defined benefit plans		16		13
Defined contribution plans		73		58
State and local government
Retirement benefit plans		93		82
Defined benefit plans		87		74
Defined contribution plans		40		19

(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		9		17
State and local government		13		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		76		90
Paid vacation		84		42
Paid sick leave		88		93

(Source: Employee Benefits in the United States)

Employer Compensation Costs

Data series	Back data	4th quarter 2023	1st quarter 2024	2nd quarter 2024	3rd quarter 2024
Private industry
12-month percent change
Total compensation		4.5%	4.5%	4.5%	4.4%
Wages and salaries		4.9%	4.7%	4.5%	4.4%
3-month percent change
Total compensation		0.9%	1.2%	0.9%	1.3%
Wages and salaries		1.0%	1.1%	0.8%	1.4%
State and local government
12-month percent change
Total compensation		4.4%	4.4%	4.4%	4.3%
Wages and salaries		4.3%	4.6%	4.7%	4.4%
3-month percent change
Total compensation		0.7%	0.9%	0.4%	2.3%
Wages and salaries		0.7%	0.9%	0.4%	2.4%

(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	2nd quarter 2024	Back data	2nd quarter 2024	Back data	2nd quarter 2024	Back data	2nd quarter 2024
Total compensation		47.28		100.0		63.59		100.0
Wages and salaries		33.38		70.6		40.54		63.8
Total benefits		13.91		29.4		23.05		36.2
Insurance		3.42		7.2		7.08		11.1
Retirement		1.68		3.5		8.36		13.1
Paid leave		4.11		8.7		4.00		6.3

(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		$968	$982	$1,032	$1,097
Members of unions		$1,129	$1,140	$1,157	$1,199
Represented by unions		$1,130	$1,134	$1,149	$1,193
Nonunion		$949	$966	$1,018	$1,078

(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 education and health 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	237	186	219	234
Blank cells indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria.

Data series	2023
Rate of injury and illness cases per 100 full-time workers
Total recordable cases	3.4
Cases involving days away from work, job restriction, or transfer	1.7
Cases involving days away from work	1.2
Cases involving days of job transfer or restriction	0.5
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 education and health services.

Establishments

Data series	Back data	3rd quarter 2023	4th quarter 2023	1st quarter 2024	2nd quarter 2024
Number of establishments
Private industry		2,055,420	2,098,668	(p)2,151,065	(p)2,194,954
Local government		73,579	73,658	(p)73,677	(p)73,755
State government		15,055	15,076	(p)14,944	(p)14,997
Federal government		1,416	1,442	(p)1,467	(p)1,469
Establishments with changes in employment (in thousands)
With job gains (seasonally adjusted)		369	374	382
With job losses (seasonally adjusted)		323	363	310
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)		-2.7	1.8	1.7	1.8
Output		-7.6	8.4	5.6	6.9
Combined inputs		-5.0	6.5	3.9	5.1
Capital input		1.6	2.6	3.1	2.5
Labor input		-2.8	3.7	2.7	4.2
Labor productivity, output per hour		-2.9	4.2	3.2	2.4

(Source: Productivity)

 

Data extracted on: December 11, 2024