The Professional and Business Services Industry and what it holds for You!

The professional and business services sectors are considered a “Super Sector” because it is so diversified and dominant in the Business Opportunity and Franchise Business Sectors of our economy. It is essentially made up of the following three parts.

The professional, scientific, and technical services sector comprises establishments that specialize in performing professional, scientific, and technical activities and services for others. Activities performed include: legal advice and representation; accounting, bookkeeping, and payroll services; architectural, engineering, and specialized design services; computer services; consulting services; research services; advertising services; photographic services; translation and interpretation services; veterinary services; and other professional, scientific, and technical services.

The management of companies and enterprises sector is comprised of: (1.) establishments that hold the securities of (or other equity interests in) companies and enterprises for the purpose of owning a controlling interest or influencing management decisions or (2.) establishments (except government establishments) that administer, oversee, and manage establishments of the company or enterprise and that normally undertake the strategic or organizational planning and decision making roles of a company or enterprise.

The administrative, support and waste management and remediation services sector is comprised of establishments that perform routine support activities for the day-to-day operations of other types of organizations. These essential activities are often undertaken in-house by establishments in many other sectors of the economy. Activities performed include: office administration, hiring and placing of personnel, document preparation and clerical, solicitation, collection, security and surveillance, cleaning, and waste disposal services.

Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages data show that, in the economy as a whole:

• Professional, scientific, and technical services represents about 5.2 percent of all employment yet makes up 10.5 percent of all establishments;
• Management of companies and enterprises makes up about 1.3 percent of all employment, and 0.5 percent of all establishments;
• Administrative and support and waste management and remediation services is about 6.1 percent of all employment, and 5.0 percent of all establishments.

Estimates from Current Employment Statistics show that in 2005, average annual employment in professional and business services was 16,882,000, which was an all-time high! The previous high was 16,666,000 in the year 2000. In 1996, annual average employment in professional and business services was 13,462,000. This steady growth is quite impressive and exists in all sectors as the following graph shows.

Growth in the Business Services IndustryNon supervisory employment in professional and business services averaged 13,797,000 in 2005, surpassing the previous peak of 13,790,000 in 2000. The number of non supervisory employees in professional and business services averaged 11,161,000 in 1996.

• The annual average of the average weekly hours of non supervisory workers in professional and business services was 34.2 in 2005, the same as the previous year and just above the 2005 private industry average of 33.8 for production and non supervisory workers.
• In professional and business services, the average hourly earnings of non supervisory workers were $18.07 in 2005, compared to an average of $16.11 for production and non supervisory workers in all private industry.

Wages and employment by occupation for the professional, scientific, and technical services and the management of companies and enterprises sectors are available from the Occupational Employment Statistics program online. The most common occupation in professional, scientific, and technical services are lawyers. In May 2005, there were 362,540 lawyers in professional, scientific, and technical services and their average annual wages were $116,450.

The most common occupation in management of companies and enterprises are bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks. There were 70,210 bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks in management of companies and enterprises and their average annual wages were $31,370.

Employment Projections data indicate that employment in the professional and business services sector will increase 27.8 percent over the 2004-14 period, the third-highest rate of growth of all sectors. (Education services is projected to have the largest percentage increase over the period.) Total employment for all industry sectors is projected to grow 14.8 percent.

The Productivity and Costs program publishes estimates of labor productivity growth (measured by percent changes in output per hour) for various industries in professional and business services, including advertising agencies.

The Producer Price Index program publishes data for many industries in professional and business services, such as architectural, engineering and related services.

The Career Guide to Industries contains descriptions of industries in the professional and business services super sector as well as information about working conditions, current and projected employment, occupations, and earnings in those industries. See: Advertising and Public Relations Services, Computer Systems Design and Related Services, Employment Services, and Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services.

As you can see, the Business Services Industry is chock full of great opportunity for those individuals finding interest in the fields that encompass this sector.

More information may be found by searching the World Wide Web for the terms “Business Services Industry”, using your favorite search engine such as Google, MSN Search or Yahoo search.