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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
Nov.
2023
Dec.
2023
Jan.
2024
Feb.
2024

Employment (in thousands)

Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)

2,999 3,012 (p)3,018 (p)3,020

Employment, production and nonsupervisory employees (seasonally adjusted)

2,399 2,410 (p)2,430 (p)2,420

Unemployment

Unemployment rate

3.7% 3.1% 5.5% 4.3%

Job openings, hires, and separations (in thousands)

Job openings

141 179 (p)214  

Hires

65 56 (p)97  

Separations

68 66 (p)83  

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)

9.3% 10.0% 8.4% 7.4%

Represented by unions (percent of wage and salary workers)

10.3% 11.1% 9.1% 7.8%

(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

203 166 139 146

Gross job losses

176 190 179 216

(Source: Business Employment Dynamics)

Employment by Occupation

Data series Employment,
2022

Customer service representatives

128,760

Telecommunications equipment installers and repairers, except line installers

109,720

(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
Nov.
2023
Dec.
2023
Jan.
2024
Feb.
2024

Average hourly earnings

$49.15 $49.11 (p)$49.08 (p)$48.85

Average weekly hours

36.2 36.3 (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

$40.53 $40.60 (p)$40.53 (p)$40.28

Average weekly hours

35.8 35.7 (p)35.8 (p)35.7

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings by Occupation

Data series Wages, 2022
Hourly Annual
Median Mean Median Mean

Customer service representatives

$21.21 $23.52 $44,130 $48,920

Telecommunications equipment installers and repairers, except line installers

$30.30 $31.43 $63,020 $65,370

(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
2023 Back
data
2023

Private industry

Retirement benefit plans

83 78

Defined benefit plans

22 20

Defined contribution plans

83 75

(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

12 21

(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

88

Paid vacation

92

Paid sick leave

93

(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

5.0% 4.7% 3.9% 3.4%

Wages and salaries

4.8% 4.9% 3.9% 3.4%

3-month percent change

Total compensation

1.4% 1.1% 0.1% 0.7%

Wages and salaries

1.5% 0.9% 0.0% 0.9%

(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

74.85 100.0

Wages and salaries

48.25 64.5

Total benefits

26.60 35.5

Insurance

6.67 8.9

Retirement

3.94 5.3

Paid leave

7.66 10.2

(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

$1,356 $1,378 $1,501 $1,572

Members of unions

$1,403 $1,568 $1,610 $1,689

Represented by unions

$1,390 $1,527 $1,587 $1,702

Nonunion

$1,348 $1,370 $1,492 $1,562

(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 2019 2020 2021 2022

Fatalities

Number of fatalities

30 32 38 49

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

1.0

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

0.5

Cases involving days away from work

0.4

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
Nov.
2023
Dec.
2023
Jan.
2024
Feb.
2024

Producer price index

(p)111.071 (p)111.889 (p)111.685 (p)112.124

Percent change from previous month

  (p)0.1% (p)0.7% (p)-0.2% (p)0.4%

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
4th quarter
2022
1st quarter
2023
2nd quarter
2023
3rd quarter
2023

Number of establishments

Private industry

274,319 (p)280,797 (p)285,538 (p)288,058

Local government

5,110 (p)5,106 (p)5,107 (p)5,109

State government

314 (p)313 (p)306 (p)306

Federal government

147 (p)147 (p)152 (p)152

Establishments with changes in employment (in thousands)

With job gains (seasonally adjusted)

47 45 46  

With job losses (seasonally adjusted)

50 47 48  

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

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

 

Data extracted on: March 15, 2024