December 31, 2008 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Not-for-profit sector and employment

Over the last few years, not-for-profit employment has expanded rapidly.

[Chart data—TXT]

This rapid employment growth, combined with the unique nature of not-for-profit activities, has generated significant interest in employment patterns of not-for-profit establishments.

The chart shows the ten detailed industries in the Occupational Employment Statistics sample with the highest levels of not-for-profit employment. In agreement with previous studies, the chart indicates that not-for-profits participate mostly in healthcare, educational, or community support activities.

These data are from the BLS Occupational Employment Statistics program. To learn more, see Occupational employment in the not-for-profit sector, by Zack Warren, Monthly Labor Review, November 2008. For the purposes of this article, a not-for-profit establishment is defined as one with 501(c) tax-exemption status.