December 3, 1999 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Service sector dominant source of new jobs

The service-producing sector of the economy is projected to grow by 19.1 million wage-and-salary jobs between 1998 and 2008. This represents nearly 95 percent of total employment growth over that period. In the latter year, the service-producing sector will account for almost 3 out of every four jobs in the U.S. economy.

[Chart data—TXT]

Within the service-producing sector, the robust growth of the services industry division will continue. Employment in this diverse group of industries is projected to increase by 11.8 million by 2008, accounting for about 60 percent of total growth in the service-producing sector.

Within the services division, nearly three-quarters of projected job growth is concentrated in three industry groups—business services (4.6 million jobs), health services (2.8 million) and engineering, management and other services (1.1 million).

Projections of the industrial composition of employment are a product of the Employment Projections program. The services industry division is the sub-set of the service-producing sector of the economy that supplies services to other businesses and to individuals. Other service-producing industries include transportation, communications, utilities, trade, finance, and government. To find out more, see articles from the November 1999 issue of Monthly Labor Review.