Real Estate and Rental and Leasing: NAICS 53

About the Real Estate and Rental and Leasing sector

The real estate and rental and leasing sector is part of the financial activities supersector.

The Real Estate and Rental and Leasing sector comprises establishments primarily engaged in renting, leasing, or otherwise allowing the use of tangible or intangible assets, and establishments providing related services. The major portion of this sector comprises establishments that rent, lease, or otherwise allow the use of their own assets by others. The assets may be tangible, as is the case of real estate and equipment, or intangible, as is the case with patents and trademarks.

This sector also includes establishments primarily engaged in managing real estate for others, selling, renting and/or buying real estate for others, and appraising real estate. These activities are closely related to this sector's main activity, and it was felt that from a production basis they would best be included here. In addition, a substantial proportion of property management is self-performed by lessors.

The main components of this sector are the real estate lessors industries (including equity real estate investment trusts (REITs)); equipment lessors industries (including motor vehicles, computers, and consumer goods); and lessors of nonfinancial intangible assets (except copyrighted works).

North American Industry Classification System

The real estate and rental and leasing sector consists of these subsectors:

NOTE: There was a change in the definition of this subsector between NAICS 2002 and NAICS 2007. Some of the data below reflect the 2002 definition and some reflect the 2007 definition. See the BLS implementation schedule for NAICS 2007 to find out which BLS programs have already implemented NAICS 2007.

Workforce Statistics

This section provides information relating to employment and unemployment in real estate and rental and leasing. 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, mass layoffs, data for occupations common to the industry, and projections of occupational employment change.

Employment, Unemployment, Layoffs, and Openings, Hires, and Separations

Data series Back
data
May
2012
Jun.
2012
Jul.
2012
Aug.
2012

Employment (in thousands)

 

Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)

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1,961.1 1,958.0 (P) 1,954.1 (P) 1,949.3

Unemployment

 

Unemployment rate

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6.5% 7.1% 6.2% 6.1%

Layoffs

 

Mass layoff events

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4 11 4 5

Initial claimants for unemployment benefits

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428 821 255 657

Job openings, hires, and separations (in thousands)

 

Job openings

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73 48 (P) 107  

Hires

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72 71 (P) 72  

Separations

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53 51 (P) 71  

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

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

Union Membership and Representation

Data series Back
data
2008 2009 2010 2011

Union membership and representation

 

Members of unions (percent of wage and salary workers)

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3.3% 3.0% 4.1% 3.4%

Represented by unions (percent of wage and salary workers)

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4.0% 3.6% 4.9% 4.0%

(Source: Current Population Survey)

Extended Mass Layoffs

Data series Back
data
3rd quarter
2011
4th quarter
2011
1st quarter
2012
2nd quarter
2012

Extended mass layoff events

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7 15 (P) 6 (P) 9

Separations

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904 2,862 (P) 3,269 (P) 1,324

Initial claimants

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1,686 2,788 (P) 1,549 (P) 1,520

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Mass Layoff Statistics)

Employment by Occupation

Data series Employment,
2011

Counter and rental clerks

192,680

Maintenance and repair workers, general

 

Property, real estate, and community association managers

111,020

Real estate brokers

34,280

Real estate sales agents

131,360

(Source: Occupational Employment Statistics)

Projections

For projected (future) employment estimates, see the National Employment Matrix, which includes employment estimates by industry and occupation for real estate and rental and leasing.

(Source: Office of Occupational Statistics and Employment Projections)

Earnings

Weekly earnings by union membership status are shown. Recent hourly and annual earnings for occupations commonly found in educational services. 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.

Union Membership and Representation

Data series Back
data
Median weekly earnings
2008 2009 2010 2011

Union membership and representation

 

Full-time workers

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$703 $726 $702 $736

Members of unions

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$789 $842 $786 $836

Represented by unions

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$783 $822 $713 $815

Nonunion

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$696 $718 $701 $734

(Source: Current Population Survey)

Earnings by Occupation

Data series Wages, 2011
Hourly Annual
Median Mean Median Mean

Counter and rental clerks

$11.29 $12.50 $23,470 $26,010

Maintenance and repair workers, general

       

Property, real estate, and community association managers

$23.97 $29.05 $49,870 $60,430

Real estate brokers

$28.40 $40.54 $59,080 $84,330

Real estate sales agents

$18.05 $23.86 $37,550 $49,630

(Source: Occupational Employment Statistics)

Employer Compensation Costs

Data series Back
data
3rd quarter
2011
4th quarter
2011
1st quarter
2012
2nd quarter
2012

12-month percent change

 

Total compensation

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3.4% 3.2% 2.4% 2.9%

Wages and salaries

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3.1% 2.8% 2.1% 2.4%

(Source: Compensation Cost Trends)



Data series Back
data
2nd quarter 2012
Compensation component
($ per hour worked)
Percent of total compensation

Compensation costs

 

Total compensation

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30.25 100.0

Wages and salaries

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21.57 71.3

Total benefits

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8.68 28.7

Insurance

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2.39 7.9

Retirement

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0.80 2.6

(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 real estate and rental and leasing. 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 2008 2009 2010 2011

Fatalities

 

Number of fatalities

84 76 89 (P) 61

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

 

Total recordable cases

3.1 3.3 2.9  

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

1.8 1.9 1.6  

Cases involving days away from work

1.2 1.2 1.0  

Cases involving days of job transfer or restriction

0.6 0.7 0.6  

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

Blank cells indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria.

(Source: Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities)

Workplace Trends

This section presents data on the number of establishments in real estate and rental and leasing.

Establishments

Data series Back
data
2nd quarter
2011
3rd quarter
2011
4th quarter
2011
1st quarter
2012

Number of establishments

 

Private industry

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344,339 344,489 345,515 (P) 344,797

Local government

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1,694 1,696 1,694 (P) 1,696

State government

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29 29 29 (P) 29

Federal government

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2 2 2 (P) 2

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: 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 27, 2012