July 31, 2003 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Composition of new information supersector

Under the North American Industry Classification System, the Current Employment Statistics program has a new sector called the information supersector.

[Chart data—TXT]

The new information supersector was created to bring together establishments that create and disseminate all types of informational and cultural products. Thus, establishments within information not only create and develop these products, but also provide the means for their distribution, whether in printed matter, in broadcast form, in motion pictures, or over the Internet. 

Among the industries in the information sector are the following: publishing and broadcasting activities (except over the Internet), Internet publishing and broadcasting, software publishers, motion picture and sound recording industries, telecommunications, and Internet service providers and related activities.

Most of employment in the new information sector comes from three industry divisions that existed under the old Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system: manufacturing, transportation and public utilities, and services. Based on March 2001 data , the information sector gains 20.3 percent of its employment from manufacturing (as defined under the SIC), mainly publishing industries.

Information also pulls communications from transportation and public utilities, while software publishing, information services including libraries, data processing, and Internet-related activities come from services.

These data are from the Current Employment Statistics program. Find out more in "Recent changes in the national Current Employment Statistics survey," by Teresa L. Morisi, Monthly Labor Review, June 2003.

 

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