Real estate (revised fall 2024)
Real estate did not get its own sector in the North American Industry Classification System. Instead it is a sub-sector within a bigger sector entitled Real Estate and Rental and Leasing. Rental and leasing establishments rent or lease cars, trucks, RV’s, appliances, formal ware, costume ware, videos, health equipment, commercial machinery and equipment, or just about anything you can imagine.
It is the real estate sub-sector that interests us here with 1.858 million jobs at the beginning of 2024. Real estate establishments sell, buy or rent real estate as brokers but also have all the other establishments that rent, lease or manage real estate for others. A small part of asset leasing has establishments that lease patents, trade marks and franchise agreements, but it has just under 23.0 thousand jobs.
Real estate establishments have 3 specialty occupations: property, real estate and community association managers, real estate agents and real estate brokers. Combined they have 449.5 thousand jobs by 2024. All real estate establishments have office work with jobs that reflect office needs such as bookkeeper, receptionist, office clerk and secretary.
Non-managerial occupations in these sub-sectors have 9.4 percent of jobs needing college degree training. College degree trained jobs at real estate firms are in finance and management but the Bureau of Labor Statistics defines real estate brokers and agents as sales occupations that do not need college degree skills. All states require brokers and agents to pass a written test and have a license that requires classroom training and some years of experience.
Real estate agents and brokers generally do not work for salary but typically work on sales commission. This practice causes some to draw hasty and inaccurate conclusions about broker and agent income. A $500,000 suburban house is not unusual in today’s economy and a 6 percent sales commission comes to $30,000. Who hasn’t noticed one of these houses selling after a single day on the market or one Sunday open house? Who hasn’t thought $30,000 for just one day’s work? Some definitely think, “I should get into real estate?”
The first mistake is to presume a $30,000 commission is income to the broker or agent. Brokers and agents typically pay half their commissions to their real estate company for office space and other necessary services like advertising. Since the real estate company gets half of commissions it is their interest to have many commissions and therefore many brokers and agents out selling, which increases competition among individual brokers and agents and decreases their chances of earning that sales commission.
A second mistake comes from the term’s buyers market and sellers market. People forget these terms do not apply to the real estate agent. In a buyers market there are more sellers than buyers. It is easier for an agent to get a house to list but buyers can do a lot of shopping and make many low bids. With buyers doing thorough shopping the weeks and months go by preparing offers and showing houses to bargain hunters, but no commission or income for all that work and time.
In a sellers market there are more buyers than sellers. It is harder to get a house to list so enterprising brokers and agents take up showing other agents listings to some of the many anxious buyers. To share in the commission they have to prepare separate offers and be the broker or agent with the highest bid. In hot suburban markets like metropolitan Washington, DC houses can draw 8, 10 and 12 offers with many offers above the listed asking price. Only one offer is the winning bid and so only one offer shares in the commission. With a sellers market, the weeks and months go by preparing offers and traipsing through houses, but no commission or income for all that work and time.
Annual wages for 2023 reported for brokers has a large range with the 10th percentile annual wage of $36,490 and the 90th percentile annual wage at $160,980. Seldom is the 90th percentile annual wage more than 4 times the 10th percentile amount as it is here. Annual wages for 2023 reported for real estate agents has a large range with the 10th percentile annual wage of $31,410 and the 90th percentile annual wage at $119,590. Seldom is the 90th percentile annual wage 4 times the 10th percentile amount as it is here.
In real estate offices annual incomes for agents and brokers depends on the selling skills and energy of individuals. The better someone can be at selling and the more time and energy they put into showing and marketing property the higher their income. Still, the high range of incomes reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics does indicate risk. Only a few make high incomes in real estate and we have to suspect there are long and unpredictable hours doing so. For anyone considering a career in real estate, follow this advice. Develop a back up plan.
Real estate establishments are not just the offices of real estate agents and brokers, but also firms that act as lessors of residential and non-residential property. Also real estate property managers and offices of real estate appraisers go in this sub sector. Real estate assessor and appraisers have 32.4 percent of their jobs in the real estate sector, a 2023 real estate total of 20.1 thousand jobs out of a national total 62.1 thousand. Local governments employ the most real estate assessors and appraisers. The realty firms doing property management often hire many in building and grounds maintenance. Add the janitors, maids, and landscaping and grounds maintenance workers and it is more jobs than realtors and brokers.
Somewhat unnoticed in activities related to real estate is the rise of the mini warehouse and self-storage units, along with employment as lessors of mini warehouse and self-storage units. Employment growth as lessors in this sub sector increased at an annual rate of 5.79 percent from 2010 to 2023, a rate 4 times the employment growth for all of the real estate industry.
The general rule of storage unit leasing is to make sure those must-save-things are worth more than the monthly locker rental; an amount apparently in the $100 range depending on size and location. Check values of used furniture, clothes and kitchenware at the Salvation Army. Prices there are very attractive and it might be possible to fill a unit with less than $100.00 worth of used stuff. If you must go ahead, remember that employment is a requirement in America and you are helping to support wages and income for lessors of mini warehouse and self-storage units, an industry now with 59.5 thousand jobs.
With a 134.453 million service jobs to divvy up, real estate services gives us 1.858 million jobs, but that is only 1.19 percent of establishment employment. Real estate services employment has been growing at 1.51 percent a year since 2010, which is faster than the rate for non-farm employment. We still have 69.606 million service jobs left to fill. They are still more sectors, but the share of professional jobs in the remaining sectors keeps going down.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Service Jobs - Information Services
Information Services (revised fall 2024)
The NAICS definition of Information Services attempts to include all the establishments that produce, distribute or transmit information or cultural products. Information service jobs trended upward in the 1990’s and peaked in 2000 with 3.6 million jobs, followed by a slow decline to 3.027 million jobs by the beginning of 2024. Information services include publishing of newspapers, periodicals, greeting cards, books, and directory and mailing list publishers on paper or as electronic publishers. The publishing industry also includes software publishers. Information services includes the motion picture and sound recording industries, broadcasting, wired, wireless and satellite telecommunications, a data processing sub sector and web search portals, libraries, archives, and other information services. Digital technology has created new industries and new jobs, but not fast enough to replace the jobs lost from the paper era and wireline telecommunications.
The publishing industry sub sector also had peak employment in 2000 at 1.059 million jobs. They declined to 944.5 thousand jobs at the beginning of 2024 disguises the shift of employment out of paper and into publishing computer software. In 1990, software publishing employed 98.2 thousand while now establishment employment totals 656.0 thousand jobs at an annual growth of almost 6 percent a year. In contrast, jobs at newspaper, periodical, book, and directory publishers have declined 490.7 thousand jobs to 288.6 thousand at the beginning of 2024, or from 778.8 thousand in 1990.
Newspaper publishers have eliminated their opening and closing stock prices and classified advertising. They cannot compete with the graphs, charts and continuously updating stock quotations available on the Internet. Many newspapers try to have online advertising but they come under competitive pressure from the web site known as Craigslist. Materials there defines their mission rather than what they do. What they do is up to the user to decide and I would say it is self-serve classified advertising, available free. There are message boards and chat rooms and some other appealing services, all free, but roughly speaking it is classified advertising by geographic area and no charge. It serves the entire world.
Metropolitan Washington, DC has its own link and scrolling through the ads it is definitely getting heavy use. For many years, the Washington Post continued with its printed classified ads that had significant charges, especially compared to free. Having the Washington Post and Craigslist selling classified advertising at dramatically different prices in the same market defies everything economists predict about markets. In economic theory this does not happen. The low cost and low price seller will take business away from the high priced seller. High priced sellers will disappear; prices will equalize among competitive sellers. It took quite a few years but the Washington Post no longer prints classified advertising. When I first heard about Craigslist, they had an “about us” link where I learned they had 18 employees. The number went but even now in 2024 they have only 50 employees. Think about that. In the new digital world, we can have all the classified advertising anybody needs or wants anywhere in the world with just 50 jobs. The digital world assures the future of information will be electronic and the job trends will be down.
The motion picture and sound recording industries have 419.2 thousand jobs, a total below the pre-pandemic employment levels. Job growth in this industry has remained below 1 percent since 2000. The motion picture and video production sub sectors has 241.9 thousand of the jobs with 122.1 thousand jobs in the exhibition sub sector and a few more jobs in post production and distribution services. Employment in the sound recording industry dropped below 20 thousand more than ten years ago and remains a small source of jobs.
The broadcasting industry by the beginning of 2024 had 347.4 thousand jobs. The broadcasting jobs in television and radio reached a high of 165.9 thousand jobs in 2000, but dropped afterward to 120.5 thousand by 2024 with 53.1 thousand jobs in radio broadcasting and 67.4 thousand jobs in television broadcasting remaining. Changes in the types of broadcasting services and in the make up of establishments providing them created a need to combine old data into a newly defined broadcasting sub sector. It is called media streaming distribution services, social networks, and other media networks and content providers. It had 226.8 thousand jobs.
The telecommunications industry reached their peak employment of 1.425 million in March 2001, before a precipitous decline of 750 thousand jobs by the beginning of 2024. Only 646.4 thousand jobs remain with both the wired and wireless sub sectors in decline. Wired telecommunications had increasing employment until 2001 and then continuous employment decline to 466.2 thousand by 2024. Wireless communications, as in cell phones, had only 35 thousand jobs in 1990. It increased to 203.4 thousand jobs in 2007 only to begin a decline to 86.3 thousand jobs by 2024. Establishments acting as telecommunications resellers have 39.7 thousand jobs. An additional sub sector includes a variety of satellite tracking, communications telemetry, and radar station operations. Jobs at establishments providing Internet services or Voice over Internet protocols (VoIP) by way of client connections are also included here. They have only 54.1 thousand jobs with a negative growth rate since 2010.
Old timers will remember the phone monopoly where AT&T did its own research at Bell Labs, produced its own equipment at Western Electric and installed and owned the phone lines, switching equipment and all the business and household phones. Under regulations approved by the Federal Communications Commission phone users were renting their telephones from the AT&T and they were strictly prohibited from altering or changing their rental equipment. Anything but Phone Company phones were prohibited and referred to as foreign attachments.
Beginning the late 1960’s and 1970’s the Federal Communications Commission amended communications policy to encourage the use of new technologies and create new products: fax machines, answering machines, the computer modem, wi-fi Internet. The use of analog technology kept communication companies in separate markets with separate services. Before the arrival of digital communications, the phone company was close to the same thing as telecommunications and separate from other businesses. With today’s digital technology the walls of separation have come down. Now rules permit independent Internet Service providers, data processing services and others to have equal access to telecommunications providers. Wireline, wireless and cable companies can offer Internet services in addition to phone and cable services with minimal new investment in proprietary equipment. Costs are falling and the incremental cost of new subscribers for one or more services keeps dropping.
Competition could lead to lower prices to consumers and with more service options to choose different combinations of services. So far companies have responded with merger proposals more than price cuts and they get away with selling a block or bucket of services rather than allowing more choices. If Competition among companies with their overlapping services ever really breaks out, prices could fall to very low levels. It might happen and it might not. If prices remain high then profits and dividends to stockholders will be good. If prices fall, then profits and dividends will fall and consumers will get a break. Either way the prognosis is not good for jobs.
Establishments producing data services provide computing infrastructure, data processing, and web hosting that includes streaming support services, although not streaming distribution services. Data processing establishments provide complete processing and specialized reports from data supplied by clients or provide automated data processing and data entry services. Data processing and web hosting services had growing employment until 2001 when jobs totaled 316.8 thousand. Jobs declined below 300 thousand but remained steady until 2016 when they began to grow again. The highest total so far came at the beginning of 2024 with 489.6 thousand jobs. These jobs have a long term growth rate of 2.58 percent.
Establishments providing Web search portals, libraries, archives and other related services have 179.9 thousand jobs divided between 27.8 thousand jobs at libraries and archives and 152 thousand jobs needed to operate web sites that use a search engine to generate and maintain extensive databases of Internet addresses and content. Web search portals often have additional services like email, connections to other Web sites, auctions and news and views. Even though library employment remains low it has more than doubled since 1990 at a long term growth rate of 2.68 percent. Web search portals had only 25.5 thousand jobs in 1990 but with a long term growth rate of 5.56 percent, suggesting continued job growth.
Information occupations needing college degree skills come to 1.779 million jobs, or almost 60 percent of total information jobs, although 98 percent of these jobs require a BA degree, not an advanced degree. The college degree total includes 617.6 thousand jobs needing computer skills, including 437.4 thousand of them as computer programmers, software developers, quality assurance testers and web developers.
Career jobs that use college degree skills in publishing include 131.9 thousand jobs as news analysts, reporters and journalists, public relations specialists, writers and editors and another 57.5 thousand jobs in art and design occupations including graphic design; college degree skills in film and sound recording establishments include 99.3 thousand jobs as producers and directors. Many actors, composers and musicians have college degrees, but demonstrated skills are the main criteria for these jobs.
With only 3.027 million jobs information services have only a small share of non-farm establishment jobs. Information services had a rising share of non-farm jobs until 2000, which turned out to be the start of its downward trend. The 2024 job share equals 1.94 percent non-farm employment. Current trends do not suggest much help from information services to fill the new jobs of the future.
Wider use of information technology permits companies to increase their services and decrease employment. Up to 2024 the companies have avoided competition so that high prices restrict the use of services over what they would be if prices more closely reflected incremental costs. Increasing the sales of information services would help support jobs and moderate the decrease in employment caused by higher productivity and technology, but the small base of employment and the risks of further job losses does not permit forecasting many more jobs from information services. We have 71.464 million jobs left to fill we have to have more service.
The NAICS definition of Information Services attempts to include all the establishments that produce, distribute or transmit information or cultural products. Information service jobs trended upward in the 1990’s and peaked in 2000 with 3.6 million jobs, followed by a slow decline to 3.027 million jobs by the beginning of 2024. Information services include publishing of newspapers, periodicals, greeting cards, books, and directory and mailing list publishers on paper or as electronic publishers. The publishing industry also includes software publishers. Information services includes the motion picture and sound recording industries, broadcasting, wired, wireless and satellite telecommunications, a data processing sub sector and web search portals, libraries, archives, and other information services. Digital technology has created new industries and new jobs, but not fast enough to replace the jobs lost from the paper era and wireline telecommunications.
The publishing industry sub sector also had peak employment in 2000 at 1.059 million jobs. They declined to 944.5 thousand jobs at the beginning of 2024 disguises the shift of employment out of paper and into publishing computer software. In 1990, software publishing employed 98.2 thousand while now establishment employment totals 656.0 thousand jobs at an annual growth of almost 6 percent a year. In contrast, jobs at newspaper, periodical, book, and directory publishers have declined 490.7 thousand jobs to 288.6 thousand at the beginning of 2024, or from 778.8 thousand in 1990.
Newspaper publishers have eliminated their opening and closing stock prices and classified advertising. They cannot compete with the graphs, charts and continuously updating stock quotations available on the Internet. Many newspapers try to have online advertising but they come under competitive pressure from the web site known as Craigslist. Materials there defines their mission rather than what they do. What they do is up to the user to decide and I would say it is self-serve classified advertising, available free. There are message boards and chat rooms and some other appealing services, all free, but roughly speaking it is classified advertising by geographic area and no charge. It serves the entire world.
Metropolitan Washington, DC has its own link and scrolling through the ads it is definitely getting heavy use. For many years, the Washington Post continued with its printed classified ads that had significant charges, especially compared to free. Having the Washington Post and Craigslist selling classified advertising at dramatically different prices in the same market defies everything economists predict about markets. In economic theory this does not happen. The low cost and low price seller will take business away from the high priced seller. High priced sellers will disappear; prices will equalize among competitive sellers. It took quite a few years but the Washington Post no longer prints classified advertising. When I first heard about Craigslist, they had an “about us” link where I learned they had 18 employees. The number went but even now in 2024 they have only 50 employees. Think about that. In the new digital world, we can have all the classified advertising anybody needs or wants anywhere in the world with just 50 jobs. The digital world assures the future of information will be electronic and the job trends will be down.
The motion picture and sound recording industries have 419.2 thousand jobs, a total below the pre-pandemic employment levels. Job growth in this industry has remained below 1 percent since 2000. The motion picture and video production sub sectors has 241.9 thousand of the jobs with 122.1 thousand jobs in the exhibition sub sector and a few more jobs in post production and distribution services. Employment in the sound recording industry dropped below 20 thousand more than ten years ago and remains a small source of jobs.
The broadcasting industry by the beginning of 2024 had 347.4 thousand jobs. The broadcasting jobs in television and radio reached a high of 165.9 thousand jobs in 2000, but dropped afterward to 120.5 thousand by 2024 with 53.1 thousand jobs in radio broadcasting and 67.4 thousand jobs in television broadcasting remaining. Changes in the types of broadcasting services and in the make up of establishments providing them created a need to combine old data into a newly defined broadcasting sub sector. It is called media streaming distribution services, social networks, and other media networks and content providers. It had 226.8 thousand jobs.
The telecommunications industry reached their peak employment of 1.425 million in March 2001, before a precipitous decline of 750 thousand jobs by the beginning of 2024. Only 646.4 thousand jobs remain with both the wired and wireless sub sectors in decline. Wired telecommunications had increasing employment until 2001 and then continuous employment decline to 466.2 thousand by 2024. Wireless communications, as in cell phones, had only 35 thousand jobs in 1990. It increased to 203.4 thousand jobs in 2007 only to begin a decline to 86.3 thousand jobs by 2024. Establishments acting as telecommunications resellers have 39.7 thousand jobs. An additional sub sector includes a variety of satellite tracking, communications telemetry, and radar station operations. Jobs at establishments providing Internet services or Voice over Internet protocols (VoIP) by way of client connections are also included here. They have only 54.1 thousand jobs with a negative growth rate since 2010.
Old timers will remember the phone monopoly where AT&T did its own research at Bell Labs, produced its own equipment at Western Electric and installed and owned the phone lines, switching equipment and all the business and household phones. Under regulations approved by the Federal Communications Commission phone users were renting their telephones from the AT&T and they were strictly prohibited from altering or changing their rental equipment. Anything but Phone Company phones were prohibited and referred to as foreign attachments.
Beginning the late 1960’s and 1970’s the Federal Communications Commission amended communications policy to encourage the use of new technologies and create new products: fax machines, answering machines, the computer modem, wi-fi Internet. The use of analog technology kept communication companies in separate markets with separate services. Before the arrival of digital communications, the phone company was close to the same thing as telecommunications and separate from other businesses. With today’s digital technology the walls of separation have come down. Now rules permit independent Internet Service providers, data processing services and others to have equal access to telecommunications providers. Wireline, wireless and cable companies can offer Internet services in addition to phone and cable services with minimal new investment in proprietary equipment. Costs are falling and the incremental cost of new subscribers for one or more services keeps dropping.
Competition could lead to lower prices to consumers and with more service options to choose different combinations of services. So far companies have responded with merger proposals more than price cuts and they get away with selling a block or bucket of services rather than allowing more choices. If Competition among companies with their overlapping services ever really breaks out, prices could fall to very low levels. It might happen and it might not. If prices remain high then profits and dividends to stockholders will be good. If prices fall, then profits and dividends will fall and consumers will get a break. Either way the prognosis is not good for jobs.
Establishments producing data services provide computing infrastructure, data processing, and web hosting that includes streaming support services, although not streaming distribution services. Data processing establishments provide complete processing and specialized reports from data supplied by clients or provide automated data processing and data entry services. Data processing and web hosting services had growing employment until 2001 when jobs totaled 316.8 thousand. Jobs declined below 300 thousand but remained steady until 2016 when they began to grow again. The highest total so far came at the beginning of 2024 with 489.6 thousand jobs. These jobs have a long term growth rate of 2.58 percent.
Establishments providing Web search portals, libraries, archives and other related services have 179.9 thousand jobs divided between 27.8 thousand jobs at libraries and archives and 152 thousand jobs needed to operate web sites that use a search engine to generate and maintain extensive databases of Internet addresses and content. Web search portals often have additional services like email, connections to other Web sites, auctions and news and views. Even though library employment remains low it has more than doubled since 1990 at a long term growth rate of 2.68 percent. Web search portals had only 25.5 thousand jobs in 1990 but with a long term growth rate of 5.56 percent, suggesting continued job growth.
Information occupations needing college degree skills come to 1.779 million jobs, or almost 60 percent of total information jobs, although 98 percent of these jobs require a BA degree, not an advanced degree. The college degree total includes 617.6 thousand jobs needing computer skills, including 437.4 thousand of them as computer programmers, software developers, quality assurance testers and web developers.
Career jobs that use college degree skills in publishing include 131.9 thousand jobs as news analysts, reporters and journalists, public relations specialists, writers and editors and another 57.5 thousand jobs in art and design occupations including graphic design; college degree skills in film and sound recording establishments include 99.3 thousand jobs as producers and directors. Many actors, composers and musicians have college degrees, but demonstrated skills are the main criteria for these jobs.
With only 3.027 million jobs information services have only a small share of non-farm establishment jobs. Information services had a rising share of non-farm jobs until 2000, which turned out to be the start of its downward trend. The 2024 job share equals 1.94 percent non-farm employment. Current trends do not suggest much help from information services to fill the new jobs of the future.
Wider use of information technology permits companies to increase their services and decrease employment. Up to 2024 the companies have avoided competition so that high prices restrict the use of services over what they would be if prices more closely reflected incremental costs. Increasing the sales of information services would help support jobs and moderate the decrease in employment caused by higher productivity and technology, but the small base of employment and the risks of further job losses does not permit forecasting many more jobs from information services. We have 71.464 million jobs left to fill we have to have more service.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Service Jobs - Non-Profit Organizations
Non-Profit Organizations (revised Fall 2024)
We can sympathize with the drafters and crafters of the North American Industry Classification system. These people are good at organization and classification, but as things went on they found a few industries that would not fit, leftovers too small to stand alone and too disparate to have a common name. Hence, they declared a sector called Other, which is really four sub sectors of very different services. Allow me to give their definition, which I cite exactly. “Establishments in this sector are primarily engaged in activities, such as equipment and machinery repairing, promoting or administering religious activities, grantmaking, advocacy and providing dry cleaning and laundry services, personal care services, death care services, pet care services, photo finishing services, temporary parking services and dating services.” If you can find a common thread there you are definitely a better person than I am.
The four sub sectors make better sense looked at separately and national industry employment data is reported for the separate sub sectors. The biggest sub sector is a loose amalgam of non-profit organizations, which is the sub sector we want to look at here. The three other sub sectors we look at a little later on. Non-profits job totals have declined slightly over the last five years to just over 2.8 million jobs, not counting 1.550 million more jobs in religious organizations, meaning churches and synagogues, mosques and monasteries.
Besides religion non-profit organizations have grantmaking and giving services giving away money to worthy applicants, or social advocacy organizations promoting causes like wildlife preservation and birth control, or civic and social organizations like scouting, fraternal lodges, or country and social clubs promoting the civic and social interests of members, and finally Business, professional, labor, political and similar organizations like the Chamber of Commerce, International Brotherhood of Teamsters and various PAC’s and Federal Bar Associations.
Work at non-profit organizations tends to be office work, which assures a higher percentage of office jobs in managerial, financial and administrative support occupations than the national average. Specialized professional jobs include human resources, training, and labor relations specialists, and meeting and convention planners, but also social advocacy organizations need professionals to be counselors, social workers and social service specialists where knowledge of social problems and how to solve them requires counseling and social work training. Grant making and giving services may need these specialties to evaluate applications or do other advising.
Media occupations such as public relations specialist have 56.4 thousand jobs, public relations managers have 14.3 thousand more jobs, especially in business, professional, labor, and political organizations. There is no occupation called lobbyist in the Standard Occupational Classification but lobbyists are included in counts of public relations specialists.
Civic and social
organizations sub sector, which includes alumni associations, fraternal lodges,
social clubs and country clubs, tend to have dining rooms, fitness facilities,
and swimming pools so there are food service jobs and jobs as fitness trainers
and aerobics instructors, recreation workers, and other support jobs like
lifeguard, and childcare.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports 213.6 thousand clergy working in religious organizations. Clergy can be clergy working in social service organizations and a few in the government, but only clergy jobs are counted here. Another 231.6 thousand jobs in other religious activities and education work in this sub sector. Many churches run a preschool so there are 72.8 thousand preschool teacher jobs. Other jobs include 40.7 thousand self-enrichment teachers and 28.7 thousand kindergarten, elementary and secondary school teachers also work here. Churches and religious organizations are the largest employers of musicians and singers who actually play and sing for pay; almost 79 thousand jobs. Musicians and singers at schools and colleges teach as their primary activity so their jobs go in education.
The non-profit organizations
in this sub sector generated 2.837 million jobs in 2023 but it is only 1.8
percent of establishment employment. Over the 33 years from 1990 to 2024 the
annual growth rates averaged .87 percent, lower than the national average so
non-profits are relatively less important now than 1990. It is a slow increase
in share however so non-profits will not be much help in replacing the lost
manufacturing jobs. We have 74.49 million jobs left to fill. We need more
service.
Friday, November 9, 2007
Service Jobs - Finance
Finance and Insurance Services (revised Fall 2024)
America has 6.731 million people with jobs in 3 separate NAICS sub sectors that handle financial transactions and not much else. The biggest share of these jobs goes into establishments defined as credit intermediaries, which have 2.6.31 million of the 6.731 million jobs.
Most of the establishments in credit intermediation are still known as banks, savings and loan, and credit unions, but there are others. Credit intermediaries accept deposits and make loans, but credit intermediaries also include lenders that do not accept deposits: credit card issuers, consumer lenders, and real estate credit firms. The banking and savings and loan part of credit intermediation are down 138.8 thousand jobs since 1990 and they continue to decline. Credit unions also declined from 345.4 thousand to 98.6 thousand jobs by the beginning of 2024.
New jobs in credit cards, consumer lending and real estate loans helped make up some losses. The job gains came in consumer lending up from 53.8 thousand jobs in 1990 to a high of 118.9 thousand jobs in 2007, but 94.3 thousand jobs by the end of 2023. Real estate credit companies jumped from 103.9 thousand jobs in 1990 to a high of 332.3 thousand jobs in 2006, but have dropped back to 198.5 thousand jobs by now.
A second sub sector defined as securities, commodity contracts and investments is much smaller with 1.102 million jobs, up from 488.7 thousand in 1990. Brokerage houses and investment bankers are in this sub sector.
The insurance sub sector has the second most jobs in finance and insurance: 2.975 million. Insurance companies added about a million jobs since 1990 with growth rates slightly better than the national average.
Finance and insurance occupations needing college degree skills comes to 3.56 million jobs, which is 52.8 percent of jobs in finance and insurance. The most important professional occupations needing college degree skills are loan officers with 279.8 thousand jobs. Loan officers work with the borrowing public, evaluating and advising clients and processing loan applications. Another 152.2 thousand work as financial analysts and 256.9 thousand work as personal financial advisors, mostly in credit intermediation and security brokerage and investment banking. Financial analysts study business financial statements and advise firms with money to invest. Personal financial advisors do similar work but advise individuals for their personal financial decisions.
There are four professional occupations specialized to the insurance industry: insurance sales agent with 462.6 thousand jobs, claims adjuster with 250.3 thousand jobs, insurance underwriter with 100.2 thousand jobs and actuary with about 23 thousand jobs. Actuaries analyze statistical data and construct probability tables of risk used to set premium rates that will build cash reserves to pay claims.
Money is only kilobytes on a computer, which makes finance and insurance jobs office work sitting at a desk with a computer. We especially suspect office work in finance and insurance because this sector and its sub sectors have the highest percentage of jobs in administration and office support occupations: 32 percent. The overall average among all America’s establishments is 12.2 percent.
Jobs in just the finance and insurance sector include 545.5 thousand jobs as customer service representatives, and 342.1 thousand jobs as tellers. Customer service representatives are one of several important office and administration jobs with employment in every sector of the United States economy. There are now 2.859 million total jobs as customer services representatives with the largest share, about 19 percent, employed in the finance and insurance sector. Customer service representatives handle customer inquiries and resolve customer complaints. Automated computerized voice mail systems do some of the routine customer service work, but not enough to decrease employment, although employment reached a high of 2.919 million in 2019 and stopped growing but stabilized until now.
Customer service representatives do not require college degree training, but they are not walk on jobs like a cashier. For starters, people in these jobs need to speak clearly and grammatically. They have to explain many varied service options and service plans that are increasingly complex and the job requires computer skills since they routinely access computer database information.
Unlike autoworkers, who have to be at the auto plant to do their work, Customer service representatives can be anywhere they have a computer and a telephone. Working from home saves commuter costs and space on already clogged highways. Telecommuting saves business the expense of providing office space, which gives incentive to increase their staff working at home at least some of the time. In addition, office space for customer service representatives could be moved to low rent small towns, rural areas or abroad to work, but over 90 percent of customer service representatives currently work in metropolitan areas.
The claim is made that business is transferring customer service jobs abroad, but it is unlikely their numbers would stabilize at such a high amount if many of these jobs were being moved abroad. Given the complexity of America’s many service plans in loans, credit cards, telecommunications, health care and other areas customer service work will not be decreasing anytime soon. If employment in these areas begins to decline then it will be a blunt message that these jobs are being moved abroad.
Tellers are also an important job to watch. Office automation could just about eliminate teller jobs. Money machines eliminate the need for tellers for check cashing and other basic banking transactions. Writing paper checks requires an elaborate process of handling, posting and clearance that takes much longer and requires more labor than electronic processing at the point of sale.
Available technology permits elimination of check writing, paper and currency in today’s digital world. However, teller jobs are not decreasing and have been increasing modestly in the last few years. Our happiness with these teller jobs has to be modest because the 2023 median annual salary rings in at $37,640, but their continued growth shows America’s resistance to further changing to electronic money. With broadband Internet hookups at more and more households some people are comfortable with their money literally flying through the air. Perhaps paper gives comfort to others with something so important in our daily lives. Whatever the reason America’s refusal to eliminate checks and currency supports many more jobs than technology requires.
Higher labor productivity makes manufacturing more efficient, but continues to eliminate jobs. In a digital world finance and insurance also has the potential to use more efficient methods that will eliminate teller jobs. If Americans keep using things that are inefficient America would have more jobs, but if America wants efficiency they may have to think of shorter hours or some new ways to spread the work.
With a 134.453 million service jobs to divvy up, Finance and Insurance gives us 6.731 million jobs, which comes to 4.3 per cent of establishment jobs. Finance and insurance services employment continues to grow too slowly to maintain its share of America’s jobs. We have looked at 57.1 million service jobs so far but we still have 77.328 million service jobs left to fill. Non-profit organizations are up next. Even though they do not sell much they have service, service, and service.
America has 6.731 million people with jobs in 3 separate NAICS sub sectors that handle financial transactions and not much else. The biggest share of these jobs goes into establishments defined as credit intermediaries, which have 2.6.31 million of the 6.731 million jobs.
Most of the establishments in credit intermediation are still known as banks, savings and loan, and credit unions, but there are others. Credit intermediaries accept deposits and make loans, but credit intermediaries also include lenders that do not accept deposits: credit card issuers, consumer lenders, and real estate credit firms. The banking and savings and loan part of credit intermediation are down 138.8 thousand jobs since 1990 and they continue to decline. Credit unions also declined from 345.4 thousand to 98.6 thousand jobs by the beginning of 2024.
New jobs in credit cards, consumer lending and real estate loans helped make up some losses. The job gains came in consumer lending up from 53.8 thousand jobs in 1990 to a high of 118.9 thousand jobs in 2007, but 94.3 thousand jobs by the end of 2023. Real estate credit companies jumped from 103.9 thousand jobs in 1990 to a high of 332.3 thousand jobs in 2006, but have dropped back to 198.5 thousand jobs by now.
A second sub sector defined as securities, commodity contracts and investments is much smaller with 1.102 million jobs, up from 488.7 thousand in 1990. Brokerage houses and investment bankers are in this sub sector.
The insurance sub sector has the second most jobs in finance and insurance: 2.975 million. Insurance companies added about a million jobs since 1990 with growth rates slightly better than the national average.
Finance and insurance occupations needing college degree skills comes to 3.56 million jobs, which is 52.8 percent of jobs in finance and insurance. The most important professional occupations needing college degree skills are loan officers with 279.8 thousand jobs. Loan officers work with the borrowing public, evaluating and advising clients and processing loan applications. Another 152.2 thousand work as financial analysts and 256.9 thousand work as personal financial advisors, mostly in credit intermediation and security brokerage and investment banking. Financial analysts study business financial statements and advise firms with money to invest. Personal financial advisors do similar work but advise individuals for their personal financial decisions.
There are four professional occupations specialized to the insurance industry: insurance sales agent with 462.6 thousand jobs, claims adjuster with 250.3 thousand jobs, insurance underwriter with 100.2 thousand jobs and actuary with about 23 thousand jobs. Actuaries analyze statistical data and construct probability tables of risk used to set premium rates that will build cash reserves to pay claims.
Money is only kilobytes on a computer, which makes finance and insurance jobs office work sitting at a desk with a computer. We especially suspect office work in finance and insurance because this sector and its sub sectors have the highest percentage of jobs in administration and office support occupations: 32 percent. The overall average among all America’s establishments is 12.2 percent.
Jobs in just the finance and insurance sector include 545.5 thousand jobs as customer service representatives, and 342.1 thousand jobs as tellers. Customer service representatives are one of several important office and administration jobs with employment in every sector of the United States economy. There are now 2.859 million total jobs as customer services representatives with the largest share, about 19 percent, employed in the finance and insurance sector. Customer service representatives handle customer inquiries and resolve customer complaints. Automated computerized voice mail systems do some of the routine customer service work, but not enough to decrease employment, although employment reached a high of 2.919 million in 2019 and stopped growing but stabilized until now.
Customer service representatives do not require college degree training, but they are not walk on jobs like a cashier. For starters, people in these jobs need to speak clearly and grammatically. They have to explain many varied service options and service plans that are increasingly complex and the job requires computer skills since they routinely access computer database information.
Unlike autoworkers, who have to be at the auto plant to do their work, Customer service representatives can be anywhere they have a computer and a telephone. Working from home saves commuter costs and space on already clogged highways. Telecommuting saves business the expense of providing office space, which gives incentive to increase their staff working at home at least some of the time. In addition, office space for customer service representatives could be moved to low rent small towns, rural areas or abroad to work, but over 90 percent of customer service representatives currently work in metropolitan areas.
The claim is made that business is transferring customer service jobs abroad, but it is unlikely their numbers would stabilize at such a high amount if many of these jobs were being moved abroad. Given the complexity of America’s many service plans in loans, credit cards, telecommunications, health care and other areas customer service work will not be decreasing anytime soon. If employment in these areas begins to decline then it will be a blunt message that these jobs are being moved abroad.
Tellers are also an important job to watch. Office automation could just about eliminate teller jobs. Money machines eliminate the need for tellers for check cashing and other basic banking transactions. Writing paper checks requires an elaborate process of handling, posting and clearance that takes much longer and requires more labor than electronic processing at the point of sale.
Available technology permits elimination of check writing, paper and currency in today’s digital world. However, teller jobs are not decreasing and have been increasing modestly in the last few years. Our happiness with these teller jobs has to be modest because the 2023 median annual salary rings in at $37,640, but their continued growth shows America’s resistance to further changing to electronic money. With broadband Internet hookups at more and more households some people are comfortable with their money literally flying through the air. Perhaps paper gives comfort to others with something so important in our daily lives. Whatever the reason America’s refusal to eliminate checks and currency supports many more jobs than technology requires.
Higher labor productivity makes manufacturing more efficient, but continues to eliminate jobs. In a digital world finance and insurance also has the potential to use more efficient methods that will eliminate teller jobs. If Americans keep using things that are inefficient America would have more jobs, but if America wants efficiency they may have to think of shorter hours or some new ways to spread the work.
With a 134.453 million service jobs to divvy up, Finance and Insurance gives us 6.731 million jobs, which comes to 4.3 per cent of establishment jobs. Finance and insurance services employment continues to grow too slowly to maintain its share of America’s jobs. We have looked at 57.1 million service jobs so far but we still have 77.328 million service jobs left to fill. Non-profit organizations are up next. Even though they do not sell much they have service, service, and service.
Monday, November 5, 2007
Service Jobs - Management
Management of Companies and Enterprises (revised fall 2024)
This sector is the oddball of the NAICS classification system. An important reason for defining a management sector comes from the emphasis on reporting data and information at the establishment level. A firm can have many establishments scattered around at different locations where some establishments within the larger firm might be just head offices or administrative offices. Other establishments might be doing the firm’s productive work with some management, but establishments primarily engaged in managing get their own sector.
The management of companies and enterprises sector employs 2.56 million as of 2023, 886.4 thousand more than 1990. Just over 90 percent of employment in this sector is in establishments that only administer, oversee or manage other establishments, or do the administrative work for establishments that actually do something like manufacture products or provide services. The remaining 10 percent of jobs are at holding companies that own the stocks of one or more other companies in order to control them.
In this, a managerial sub sector, management jobs have 21.4 percent of all the jobs, which accounts for 548 thousand management positions. In the national economy a little over 6.9 percent of America’s jobs are classified as part of managerial occupations like general and operations manager, marketing manager, sales manager and so on. Even though lots of managerial jobs are filled with people moving from professional jobs, management occupations remain distinct from professional occupations. A civil engineer who works as a manager of civil engineers works in a management occupation, even though civil engineer is a profession. The bachelor degree plus work experience in the related occupation amounts to a managerial skill category because almost 90 percent of jobs with these skills and experience are in one or another of management occupations.
With a 134.453 million service jobs to divvy up Management of Companies and Enterprises has only 2.558 million jobs or 1.64 percent of establishment employment. Job growth since 2010 is 2.23 percent a full percent above the national average for that period. It helps a little but not much.
So far we have looked at the jobs in service sectors of education, professional- scientific-technical services, health care, social services and the management of companies and found 25.084 million jobs that use college degree skills. which are 50.1 percent of the 49.587 million jobs using college degree skills in the U.S. economy. There are 84.059 million jobs left in 12 more service sectors with 24.5 million professional jobs that go in them. With major service providing sectors behind us we are running short of professional employment. We have not looked at financial services. That will be next.
This sector is the oddball of the NAICS classification system. An important reason for defining a management sector comes from the emphasis on reporting data and information at the establishment level. A firm can have many establishments scattered around at different locations where some establishments within the larger firm might be just head offices or administrative offices. Other establishments might be doing the firm’s productive work with some management, but establishments primarily engaged in managing get their own sector.
The management of companies and enterprises sector employs 2.56 million as of 2023, 886.4 thousand more than 1990. Just over 90 percent of employment in this sector is in establishments that only administer, oversee or manage other establishments, or do the administrative work for establishments that actually do something like manufacture products or provide services. The remaining 10 percent of jobs are at holding companies that own the stocks of one or more other companies in order to control them.
In this, a managerial sub sector, management jobs have 21.4 percent of all the jobs, which accounts for 548 thousand management positions. In the national economy a little over 6.9 percent of America’s jobs are classified as part of managerial occupations like general and operations manager, marketing manager, sales manager and so on. Even though lots of managerial jobs are filled with people moving from professional jobs, management occupations remain distinct from professional occupations. A civil engineer who works as a manager of civil engineers works in a management occupation, even though civil engineer is a profession. The bachelor degree plus work experience in the related occupation amounts to a managerial skill category because almost 90 percent of jobs with these skills and experience are in one or another of management occupations.
With a 134.453 million service jobs to divvy up Management of Companies and Enterprises has only 2.558 million jobs or 1.64 percent of establishment employment. Job growth since 2010 is 2.23 percent a full percent above the national average for that period. It helps a little but not much.
So far we have looked at the jobs in service sectors of education, professional- scientific-technical services, health care, social services and the management of companies and found 25.084 million jobs that use college degree skills. which are 50.1 percent of the 49.587 million jobs using college degree skills in the U.S. economy. There are 84.059 million jobs left in 12 more service sectors with 24.5 million professional jobs that go in them. With major service providing sectors behind us we are running short of professional employment. We have not looked at financial services. That will be next.
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