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:

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
May
2008
Jun.
2008
Jul.
2008
Aug.
2008

Employment (in thousands)

 

Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)

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18,820 18,891 (P) 18,942 (P) 18,997

Employment, nonsupervisory workers (seasonally adjusted)

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16,459 16,518 (P) 16,576 (P) 16,630

Unemployment

 

Unemployment rate

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3.2% 3.4% 3.9% 4.3%

Job openings, hires, and separations (in thousands)

 

Job openings

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660 693 (P) 673  

Hires

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472 568 (P) 510  

Separations

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493 489 (P) 519  

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

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

Union Membership and Representation

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data
2004 2005 2006 2007

Union membership and representation

 

Members of unions (percent of wage and salary workers)

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8.3% 8.3% 8.3% 8.8%

Represented by unions (percent of wage and salary workers)

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9.4% 9.4% 9.5% 10.0%

(Source: Current Population Survey)

Dynamic Changes in Employment

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data
1st quarter
2007
2nd quarter
2007
3rd quarter
2007
4th quarter
2007

Dynamic changes in employment (in thousands)

 

Gross job gains

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799 785 797 810

Gross job losses

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655 697 684 667

(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 for production or nonsupervisory employees, 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 Production Workers

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data
May
2008
Jun.
2008
Jul.
2008
Aug.
2008

Average hourly earnings

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$18.71 $18.75 (P) $18.83 (P) $18.88

Average weekly hours

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32.7 32.6 (P) 32.6 (P) 32.6

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Union Membership and Representation

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data
Median weekly earnings
2004 2005 2006 2007

Union membership and representation

 

Full-time workers

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$613 $627 $648 $671

Members of unions

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$717 $731 $751 $779

Represented by unions

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$728 $736 $745 $781

Nonunion

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$603 $617 $635 $657

(Source: Current Population Survey)

Employer Compensation Costs

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data
3rd quarter
2007
4th quarter
2007
1st quarter
2008
2nd quarter
2008

12-month percent change

 

Total compensation

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3.6% 3.5% 3.3% 3.5%

Wages and salaries

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3.8% 3.6% 3.6% 3.4%

12-month percent change: State and local government

 

Total compensation

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3.7% 3.7% 3.6% 3.6%

Wages and salaries

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3.1% 3.4% 3.4% 3.7%

(Source: Compensation Cost Trends)



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data
2nd quarter 2008
Compensation component
($ per hour worked)
Percent of total compensation

Compensation costs

 

Total compensation

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28.75 100.0

Wages and salaries

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20.71 72.0

Total benefits

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8.04 28.0

Insurance

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2.18 7.6

Retirement

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0.92 3.2

(Source: Compensation Cost Trends)

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 2004 2005 2006 2007

Fatalities

 

Number of fatalities

234 216 245 (P) 212

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

 

Total recordable cases

5.8 5.5 5.4  

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

2.7 2.6 2.5  

Cases involving days away from work

1.5 1.5 1.4  

Cases involving days of job transfer or restriction

1.2 1.1 1.1  

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(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

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data
1st quarter
2007
2nd quarter
2007
3rd quarter
2007
4th quarter
2007

Number of establishments

 

Private industry

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(P) 813,021 (P) 819,193 (P) 827,468 (P) 830,351

Local government

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(P) 67,008 (P) 67,083 (P) 67,362 (P) 67,286

State government

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(P) 13,116 (P) 13,236 (P) 13,258 (P) 13,162

Federal government

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(P) 682 (P) 730 (P) 733 (P) 739

Establishments with changes in employment (in thousands)

 

With job gains (seasonally adjusted)

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212 210 209 215

With job losses (seasonally adjusted)

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190 194 195 194

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

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

Other BLS Resources

The Editor's Desk

See industry studies in the subject matter index of The Editor's Desk (Current Edition).

Career Guide to Industries

To learn about careers from an industry perspective, see the Career Guide to Industries.

 

Data extracted on: September 16, 2008