26

Employment by Occupational

Group and Establishment

Size

Fatemeh Hajiha

Fatemeh Hajiha is an economist in the Division of Occupational

and Administrative Statistics, Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Labor markets function efficiently to match workers

with certain skills and abilities with employers who

require those skills. Some products and services may

be provided most efficiently by small and specialized establishments, while others may be provided most efficiently by

very large establishments. Looking at how workers with

different skills are allocated among firms of different sizes

may provide insight on how these workers are used most

efficiently. It also may provide jobseekers or workers with

certain skills with information on the size characteristics of

establishments most likely to employ them.

This analysis uses unpublished data collected by the

Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) program to review the distribution of workers in 22 major occupational

groups by establishment size. The sample is not designed to

produce independent size class estimates. The size class

estimates are, therefore, subject to more error than are other

estimates, such as those by industry.

For this analysis an establishment is defined as an economic unit that processes goods or provides services, such

as a factory, mine, or store. The establishment is generally at

a single physical location and is engaged primarily in one

type of economic activity. State and local government establishments, however, may be in several physical locations.

Five size classes of establishments are distinguished as

shown below:

 Size class Employment

1 1 to 9

2 10 to 49

3 50 to 249

4 250 to 999

5 1,000 or more

Chart 1 depicts the distribution of all establishments across

the five size classes. It shows that the distribution is highly

skewed toward small establishments; more than 70 percent

have fewer than 10 employees. On the other hand, establishments with 1,000 or more employees account for only about

0.1 percent of all establishments in the United States.

Chart 1 also depicts the distribution of total employment

among the five size classes. Although the small establishments, with one to nine workers, account for more than 70

percent of establishments, they employ only 12 percent of

the workforce. The large establishments, with more than 250

workers, account for about 1 percent of establishments, and

they employ more than 36 percent of the workforce.

Text table 1 shows how employment in each of the 22

major occupational groups is distributed by establishment

size class.

As one might expect, different occupational groups are

not identically distributed among the establishment size

classes. The life, physical, and social science occupations,

for instance, are concentrated in larger establishments. As

depicted in chart 2, about 41 percent of life, physical, and

social science workers are in establishments that have 1,000

or more employees. At the other extreme, less than 7 percent

of life, physical, and social science occupations are in establishments with fewer than 10 employees.

Distributions of seven other occupational groups have

higher employment concentrations in larger establishments:

Computer and mathematical occupations; architecture and

engineering occupations; community and social services

occupations; education, training, and library occupations;

healthcare practitioners and technical occupations; business

and financial operations occupations; and protective service occupations.1

The employment in sales and related occupations, on the

other hand, is concentrated in smaller establishments. As

depicted in chart 3, 53 percent of the total employment in the

sales and related group is in establishments with 49 or fewer

employees. Another 29 percent of employment is in establishments that have 50 to 249 employees. By contrast, only

4 percent of the employment in sales and related occupa1

 Protective service occupations are concentrated in large establishments in the OES survey due to the unique treatment of government in the OES survey. Establishments such as police departments

are combined with other local government establishments, thereby

increasing the average size of local government establishments.
27

tions is in establishments with 1,000 or more employees.

Food preparation and serving related occupations and

the construction and extraction occupations have employment distributions by establishment size that are similar to

that of sales and related occupations.

The legal occupations are unique because they have lower

concentrations in midsize establishments, and higher concentrations in the smallest and largest establishments. The

office and administrative support occupations is the most

evenly distributed of occupational groups. (See chart 4.) In

general, the distributions of employment by establishment

size of the remaining occupational groups resemble that of

total employment.

THIS ARTICLE PRESENTS A SUMMARY of information regarding differences in occupational employment by establishment size. The OES data present a wealth of opportunities to

consider specific questions regarding variations in size of

establishment, occupational employment, and wages by area

and industry.

Text table 1. Percent distribution of major occupational employment by establishment size, May 2003

 All employment ........................................................................ 12.0 23.0 28.0 18.0 19.0

Management occupations ................................................................ 9.9 28.1 28.7 16.2 17.2

Business and financial operations occupations ............................. 12.3 17.3 21.9 18.4 30.1

Computer and mathematical occupations ...................................... 7.1 13.2 25.9 24.1 29.6

Architecture and engineering occupations ..................................... 7.7 16.6 23.2 20.1 32.4

Life, physical, and social science occupations .............................. 6.7 12.6 20.7 19.2 40.8

Community and social services occupations ................................. 6.9 18.6 25.9 16.2 32.5

Legal occupations ............................................................................ 21.6 22.6 16.8 12.8 26.1

Education, training, and library occupations .................................. 1.9 11.2 27.8 20.8 38.5

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media occupations ........ 17.9 21.5 27.7 17.3 15.7

Healthcare practitioners and technical occupations ...................... 8.9 15.2 19.7 18.6 37.6

Healthcare support occupations ..................................................... 11.8 17.3 34.5 16.8 19.6

Protective service occupations ....................................................... 1.4 8.7 22.9 24.9 42.1

Food preparation and serving related occupations ....................... 9.2 42.3 34.3 8.2 6.0

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations ..... 12.5 24.3 29.4 17.7 16.1

Personal care and service occupations ......................................... 14.0 26.3 25.7 16.1 17.8

Sales and related occupations ........................................................ 22.3 31.2 29.1 13.3 4.0

Office and administrative support occupations .............................. 15.2 21.5 25.9 17.8 19.7

Farming, fishing, and forestry occupations .................................... 11.9 21.2 29.3 22.8 14.8

Construction and extraction occupations ....................................... 19.8 32.0 28.2 11.8 8.2

Installation, maintenance, and repair occupations ......................... 19.2 26.0 26.3 14.6 13.9

Production occupations ................................................................... 6.4 17.5 33.4 27.3 15.5

Transportation and material moving occupations .......................... 8.2 24.0 33.7 19.6 14.5

Major occupational group

Size 1

1 to 9

workers

Size 2

10 to 49

workers

Size 3

50 to 249

workers

Size 4

250 to 999

workers

Size 5

1,000 or

more

workers
28

Chart 2. Percent distribution of total employment and of life, physical, and social science

occupations by size class, May 2003

Total employment

Life, physical, and social science occupations

1-9

workers

10-49

workers

50-249

workers

250-999

workers

1,000 workers

or more

45

35

30

25

20

15

10

5

0

40

Chart 1. Percent distribution of total occupational employment and establishments

by size class, May 2003

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

1-9

workers

10-49

workers

50-249

workers

250-999

workers

1,000 workers

or more

Employment

Establishments

Percent Percent

Employment size class

Employment size class
29

Chart 4. Percent distribution of employment of office and administrative and legal

occupations by size class, May 2003

30

25

20

15

10

5

0

Office and administrative support occupations

Legal occupations

1-9

workers

10-49

workers

50-249

workers

250-999

workers

1,000 workers

or more

size2 size4 size5

Chart 3. Percent distribution of total and of sales and related occupations by size

class, May 2003

35

30

25

20

15

10

5

0

Total employment

Sales and related occupations

1-9

workers

10-49

workers

50-249

workers

250-999

workers

1,000 workers

or more

Percent Percent

Employment size class

Employment size class