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Professional and Business Services

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About the Professional and Business Services supersector
BLS Data

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	Nov. 2022	Dec. 2022	Jan. 2023	Feb. 2023
Employment (in thousands)
Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)	22,791	22,814	(p)22,867	(p)22,912
Employment, production and nonsupervisory employees (seasonally adjusted)	18,171	18,140	(p)18,162	(p)18,180
Unemployment
Unemployment rate	3.7%	3.5%	3.5%	4.2%
Job openings, hires, and separations (in thousands)
Job openings	1,939	1,912	(p)2,278
Hires	1,062	901	(p)1,205
Separations	1,096	1,119	(p)1,124
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

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

Union Membership and Representation


Data series	2019	2020	2021	2022
Union membership and representation
Members of unions (percent of wage and salary workers)	2.2%	2.2%	2.2%	2.2%
Represented by unions (percent of wage and salary workers)	3.0%	3.0%	2.9%	2.8%

(Source: Current Population Survey)

Dynamic Changes in Employment


Data series	3rd quarter 2021	4th quarter 2021	1st quarter 2022	2nd quarter 2022
Dynamic changes in employment (in thousands)
Gross job gains	1,755	1,961	1,613	1,648
Gross job losses	1,454	1,302	1,361	1,702

(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	Nov. 2022	Dec. 2022	Jan. 2023	Feb. 2023
Average hourly earnings	$39.40	$39.53	(p)$39.70	(p)$39.76
Average weekly hours	36.5	36.4	(p)36.6	(p)36.6
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings and Hours of Production and Nonsupervisory Employees


Data series	Nov. 2022	Dec. 2022	Jan. 2023	Feb. 2023
Average hourly earnings	$33.13	$33.31	(p)$33.46	(p)$33.62
Average weekly hours	36.3	36.3	(p)36.4	(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
Data series	Back data	2022	Back data	2022
Private industry
Retirement benefit plans		68		56
Defined benefit plans		13		8
Defined contribution plans		66		54

(Source: Employee Benefits in the United States)


Data series	After 1 year of service		After 20 years of service
Data series	Back data	2021	Back data	2021
Mean number of vacation days for private industry workers without consolidated leave plans		10		18

(Source: Employee Benefits in the United States)


Data series	Back data	2022
Percent of private industry workers with access to employer-sponsored benefits
Health care		75
Paid vacation		82
Paid sick leave		81

(Source: Employee Benefits in the United States)

Employer Compensation Costs


Data series	1st quarter 2022	2nd quarter 2022	3rd quarter 2022	4th quarter 2022
Private industry
12-month percent change
Total compensation	4.5%	5.4%	5.0%	4.9%
Wages and salaries	4.6%	5.4%	5.1%	5.0%
3-month percent change
Total compensation	1.6%	1.5%	1.1%	0.7%
Wages and salaries	1.4%	1.5%	1.3%	0.7%

(Source: Compensation Cost Trends)


Data series	Private industry
	Compensation component ($ per hour worked)		Percent of total compensation
	Back data	4th quarter 2022	Back data	4th quarter 2022
Total compensation		49.66		100.0
Wages and salaries		35.41		71.3
Total benefits		14.25		28.7
Insurance		3.33		6.7
Retirement		1.29		2.6
Paid leave		4.00		8.1

(Source: Compensation Cost Trends)

Union Membership and Representation


Data series	Back data	Median weekly earnings
Data series	Back data	2019	2020	2021	2022
Union membership and representation
Full-time workers		$1,149	$1,220	$1,241	$1,353
Members of unions		$903	$960	$1,023	$1,091
Represented by unions		$918	$993	$1,017	$1,112
Nonunion		$1,155	$1,228	$1,249	$1,362

(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	2018	2021
Fatalities
Number of fatalities	598	570
Blank cells indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria.


Data series	2021
Rate of injury and illness cases per 100 full-time workers
Total recordable cases	1.1
Cases involving days away from work, job restriction, or transfer	0.6
Cases involving days away from work	0.4
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	4th quarter 2021	1st quarter 2022	2nd quarter 2022	3rd quarter 2022
Number of establishments
Private industry	2,198,270	(p)2,244,456	(p)2,287,776	(p)2,328,216
Local government	4,499	(p)4,528	(p)4,586	(p)4,602
State government	1,132	(p)1,142	(p)1,147	(p)1,175
Federal government	1,453	(p)1,440	(p)1,434	(p)1,435
Establishments with changes in employment (in thousands)
With job gains (seasonally adjusted)	480	459	448
With job losses (seasonally adjusted)	390	395	438
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

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

Data extracted on: March 21, 2023