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
Apr.
2009
May
2009
Jun.
2009
Jul.
2009

Employment (in thousands)

 

Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)

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19,175 19,215 (P) 19,252 (P) 19,269

Employment, nonsupervisory workers (seasonally adjusted)

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16,809 16,848 (P) 16,881 (P) 16,890

Unemployment

 

Unemployment rate

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4.6% 4.9% 6.1% 6.1%

Job openings, hires, and separations (in thousands)

 

Job openings

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556 505 (P) 508  

Hires

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466 438 (P) 601  

Separations

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468 424 (P) 533  

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
2005 2006 2007 2008

Union membership and representation

 

Members of unions (percent of wage and salary workers)

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8.3% 8.3% 8.8% 9.1%

Represented by unions (percent of wage and salary workers)

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9.4% 9.5% 10.0% 10.3%

(Source: Current Population Survey)

Dynamic Changes in Employment

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

Dynamic changes in employment (in thousands)

 

Gross job gains

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785 788 799 841

Gross job losses

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667 715 706 665

(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
Apr.
2009
May
2009
Jun.
2009
Jul.
2009

Average hourly earnings

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$19.33 $19.34 (P) $19.39 (P) $19.42

Average weekly hours

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32.3 32.3 (P) 32.2 (P) 32.3

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Union Membership and Representation

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data
Median weekly earnings
2005 2006 2007 2008

Union membership and representation

 

Full-time workers

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$627 $648 $671 $685

Members of unions

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$731 $751 $779 $795

Represented by unions

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$736 $745 $781 $798

Nonunion

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$617 $635 $657 $671

(Source: Current Population Survey)

Employer Compensation Costs

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data
3rd quarter
2008
4th quarter
2008
1st quarter
2009
2nd quarter
2009

12-month percent change

 

Total compensation

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3.2% 2.7% 2.7% 2.3%

Wages and salaries

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3.1% 2.7% 2.6% 2.4%

12-month percent change: State and local government

 

Total compensation

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3.4% 3.0% 3.0% 3.0%

Wages and salaries

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3.7% 3.2% 3.0% 2.8%

(Source: Compensation Cost Trends)



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data
1st quarter 2009
Compensation component
($ per hour worked)
Percent of total compensation

Compensation costs

 

Total compensation

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29.45 100.0

Wages and salaries

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21.17 71.9

Total benefits

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8.28 28.1

Insurance

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2.31 7.8

Retirement

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0.93 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 2005 2006 2007 2008

Fatalities

 

Number of fatalities

216 245 213 (P) 207

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

 

Total recordable cases

5.5 5.4 5.2  

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

2.6 2.5 2.4  

Cases involving days away from work

1.5 1.4 1.3  

Cases involving days of job transfer or restriction

1.1 1.1 1.0  

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

Number of establishments

 

Private industry

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(P) 838,363 (P) 844,274 (P) 851,036 (P) 857,357

Local government

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(P) 67,313 (P) 67,411 (P) 67,797 (P) 67,617

State government

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(P) 13,345 (P) 13,402 (P) 13,626 (P) 13,508

Federal government

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(P) 720 (P) 718 (P) 719 (P) 720

Establishments with changes in employment (in thousands)

 

With job gains (seasonally adjusted)

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213 211 211 216

With job losses (seasonally adjusted)

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198 202 199 201

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: August 28, 2009