22 Monthly Labor Review December 2001

NAICS Employment and wages NAICS Employment and Wages

A first look at employment

and wages using NAICS

With the release of the North American

Industry Classification System data,

a new view is introduced, one which better

reveals the inner workings of the U.S. economy

David R. H. Hiles

David R. H. Hiles is

Chief of Current Data

Analysis for the

Covered Employment

and Wages Program,

Office of Employment

and Unemployment

Statistics, Bureau of

Labor Statistics.

E-mail:

hiles_d@bls.gov

I

n the fall of 2002, the Bureau of Labor Statistics will release industry employment, wages,

and establishment count data for 2001 based

on the North American Industry Classification

System (NAICS) structure. This article presents

the first glimpse of the data. By previewing these

data, users can begin to acquaint themselves

with the new structure. The data presented in

this article are based on preliminary private sector U.S. totals for the first quarter of 2001. This,

the first BLS data based on NAICS, comes from the

Covered Employment and Wages or CEW/ES–202

program.1

CEW background

Every business and government establishment

in the United States, Puerto Rico, and the U.S.

Virgin Islands, with employees covered by unemployment insurance programs, files quarterly

unemployment tax reports. CEW data are derived

from these reports. In the first quarter of 2001,

these reports accounted for more than $1.2 trillion in wages, of which more than $1 trillion was

paid to private sector employees. Data are produced on monthly employment, quarterly wages,

and quarterly counts of establishments. State Employment Security Agencies (SESAs) and BLS work

cooperatively to conduct the CEW program.2

Throughout the past several years, the SESAs

have spent many hours converting approximately 8 million CEW reports to NAICS. Their hard

work is in evidence, as the conversion process is

nearly complete, with more than 97 percent of

the reports now converted. These cover greater

than 99 percent of private sector employment,

with most of the remainder consisting of new

reports with fewer than five employees, which

have not been in the system long enough to be

assigned detailed industry codes.

Users interested in more information

about NAICS can access the NAICS page on

the BLS website at http://www.bls.gov/bls/

naics.htm or the Bureau of the Census

website at http://www.census.gov/epcd/

www/naics.html. In 2002, BLS will provide

ratio tables that can be used to convert historic SIC series to a NAICS basis at http://

www.bls.gov/cewhome.htm. In 2002, the

NAICS 2002 Manual will be available from

the National Technical Information Service

(NTIS) and the Government Printing Office

(GPO). In the meantime, the NAICS 1997

Manual is available from GPO to supplement the information on the Census

website referenced above.
Monthly Labor Review December 2001 23

The timing of CEW data release is determined by each

State’s data collection flows and by the completion of BLS

review and correction activities. The CEW data flow begins

when employers file quarterly unemployment insurance tax

reports. At the end of each calendar quarter, every employer

submits these reports to the SESAs, which edit and correct

the quarterly data and submit it to BLS, where it undergoes

final review. Each fall, BLS releases CEW monthly, quarterly,

and annual data for the preceding year. Most States release

CEW data on their own behalf.

Although other sources of industry employment data do

exist at the national and State levels, CEW provides detailed

data at the county and metropolitan area level. CEW also offers much more detailed information at the State level than is

available from more timely, sample-based programs such as

the Current Population Survey or the Current Employment

Statistics program.

NAICS basics

Since 1988, the detailed CEW information has been broken

into detailed industries according to the system set forth in

the 1987 version of the Standard Industrial Classification

(SIC) Manual. Data prior to 1988 were tabulated according to

the 1972 version of the SIC Manual. Beginning with the release of data for 2001, CEW publication will switch to the 2002

version of NAICS as the basis for the assignment and tabulation of economic data by industry. NAICS is the product of a

cooperative effort on the part of the statistical agencies of

the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

NAICS and SIC differ in their design structures; therefore,

data for 2001 will not be comparable to the SIC-based data for

earlier years. The data presented below illustrate a few examples of the differences between NAICS and SIC structures.

NAICS uses a production-oriented approach to categorize

economic units. Units with similar production processes are

classified in the same industry. Thus, NAICS focuses on how

products and services are created, as opposed to the SIC

focus on what is produced. This approach yields significantly different industry groupings than those produced by

the SIC approach. The NAICS development process was not

an update of the SIC system; rather, from a fresh starting

point, its developers could establish new categories reflecting the structure of the modern economy. Data users will be

able to work with new NAICS industrial groupings, which better reflect the workings of the U.S. economy, and will be able

to track specific industries and analyze the effects of changes

in industrial production processes.

New top-level aggregates

In addition to the new groups, or sectors, created by the

NAICS Manual, BLS and its NAICS partner agencies have further assembled NAICS sectors, extending the sector structure

upwards. These extensions aggregate the individual NAICS

sectors into supersectors, and above this supersector level

are two more aggregations, the commonly used domains

known as goods-producing and service-providing. (See

table 1 and chart 1.)

Supersectors are similar in concept to the SIC divisions

Table 1.

Industry

Establishments Employment Average

 weekly

Total Total Percent Percent wages

 Total ...................................................... 7,717,283 100.0 109,097,869 100.0 $720

Goods-producing ....................................... 1,296,599 16.8 24,845,986 22.8 801

Natural resources and mining ................. 128,211 1.7 1,563,979 1.4 674

Construction ........................................... 768,194 10.0 6,470,814 5.9 709

Manufacturing ......................................... 400,194 5.2 16,811,193 15.4 847

Service-providing ....................................... 6,420,684 83.2 84,251,883 77.2 697

Trade, transportation and utilities ........... 1,843,748 23.9 25,535,474 23.4 614

Information ............................................. 151,189 2.0 3,693,343 3.4 1,173

Financial activities .................................. 717,233 9.3 7,621,452 7.0 1,348

Professional and business services ...... 1,240,585 16.1 16,494,914 15.1 852

Education and health services ............... 680,358 8.8 14,707,876 13.5 594

Leisure and hospitality ........................... 628,785 8.1 11,583,950 10.6 294

Other services ....................................... 955,181 12.4 4,176,767 3.8 439

Unclassified ............................................ 203,605 2.6 438,107 .4 741

NOTE: Data are preliminary.

NAICS data: establishment and employment distribution by BLS supersector and domain, private ownership,

first quarter (March) 2001
24 Monthly Labor Review December 2001

NAICS Employment and wages

seen in table 2. Domains and supersectors can also be used

when sufficient data do not exist to publish at the sector

level. Several of the supersectors such as construction, manufacturing, financial services, public administration, and

unclassified are similar to SIC industry divisions. But others

are wholly new and provide fresh territory for analysis. Many

of these new groups consist of splinters of the old SIC Services division.

Within the goods-producing domain, natural resources

and mining is the only new supersector, and it is the smallest

supersector in the economy as measured by employment. It

brings together extractive industries, those that derive

their value by extracting resources from the environment. By

joining two industries—agriculture and mining— it brings

together some of the lowest and highest paying industries.

The service-providing domain is far larger than goodsproducing in the U.S. economy, as is also the case with other

developed countries. Trade, transportation, and utilities is

by far the largest supersector, with more than 23 percent of

private industry employment. It combines sectors that move

goods and services from the manufacturer to the customer.

Information, discussed in greater detail below, is one of the

six sectors that is also a supersector. At the supersector level,

Information’s average weekly wage of $1,173 is surpassed

only by the $1,348 earned in financial services. Information’s

high wages come from its concentration of employment in

new Internet-related industries added to a large base of highly

paid employees in the more traditional telecommunications

and publishing industries. Professional and business services is similar to the old services SIC division in that it is a

combination of several very different economic groups, with

each expected to exhibit different behaviors in the business

cycle. Education and health services brings together relatively low-paid but fast-growing industries. The industries in

this group are particularly sensitive to changes in government spending. Leisure and hospitality is a tourism-related

group that users have wanted for years. The number of workers in this group is large, and often seasonally volatile. With

this new category—the product of two formerly separate

groups—the number of workers can be easily and quickly

ascertained for any location in the country. Other services

combines industries that could not be gathered in elsewhere.

Chart 1. All industries, BLS supersectors and domains, and NAICS sectors

Unclassified

Domain

Supersector

NAICS

sector

Natural

resources

and mining

Construction

Manufacturing Information

Financial

activities

Professional

and business

services

Goods-producing Service-providing

Trade,

transportation,

and utilities

Agriculture,

forestry,

fishing,

and hunting

Construction

Manufacturing

All industries

Leisure

and

hospitality

Public

administration

Other

services

Education

and health

services

Mining

•

•

•

•

•Information

Wholesale

trade

•

Retail

trade

•

Transportation

and

warehousing

•

• Utilities

Professional,

scientific,

and

technical

services

Management

of companies

and

enterprises

Administrative

and support

and waste

management

and remediation

services

•

•

•

Health care

and social

assistance

Educational

services

•

•

Arts,

entertainment,

and recreation

Accommodation

and food services

•

•

Other

services

•

Public

administration

•

• Unclassified

Financial

and

insurance

Real estate

and

rental and

leasing

•

•
Monthly Labor Review December 2001 25

While it is a small sector, when measured by share of employees (3.8 percent), it is one of the largest when measured by

the number of establishments. Its 12.4 percent share of the

establishment count is due to the inclusion of private households employment in this group.

New sectors

One of the most interesting new industry sectors is called

Information. This group brings together industries that:

• transform information into a commodity,

• distribute the commodity, and

• provide information services.

Information’s major components are publishing, motion

pictures and sound recording, broadcasting, telecommunications, information services, and data processing. Under

the SIC system, these units were spread across the manufacturing, communications, business services, and amusement

services groups. Another new sector of interest is management of companies and enterprises. This sector is comprised

of establishments engaged in managing the activities of other

corporate units.

The information sector brings together industries that

were credited for much of the extraordinary growth seen in

the U.S. economy during the late 1990s. With fewer than 4

million employees, it is a group of average size, less than a

fourth of the size of the largest NAICS sector, manufacturing.

(See table 3.) This sector includes most of the separately

categorized Internet-related industries. Many of these industries did not exist when the last version of the SIC Manual

was released in 1987. Examples are Internet publishing and

broadcasting (1.3 million employees) and ISPs, search portals, and data processing (0.5 million employees).

Management of companies and enterprises is a new, small

sector (1.8 million employees) that should be of great analytical interest. This sector is composed of corporate and

regional headquarters offices and holding companies. In a

hypothetical example, under the SIC system, an establishment such as the headquarters of a multinational corporation

with many activities, but with primary interests concentrated

in the auto industry, was placed in the automobile manufacturing industry. Under NAICS, this location moves out of manufacturing and into the management sector. For the first time,

analysts will be able to track what happens to headquarters

employment and wages throughout the business cycle.

Moreover, because CEW data is available for every State, users will be able to see which States are gaining and losing

employment in this sector, as well as for other sectors of

interest.

Other notable sectors

Under NAICS, the mining sector continues, with 25,542 employees, as the smallest employment group, the same as under the SIC structure. The utilities sector has the smallest

number of establishments (15,895) while receiving the third

highest sectoral average weekly wage ($1,453). With more

than 16.8 million workers, manufacturing is the largest sector

by employment. It has more subsectors than any other group.

Within the service-providing domain, retail trade is notable because of its size, both in terms of establishments and

employment. At 1,048,112, it has the largest number of establishments. With 15,014,624 employees, it is second only to

manufacturing in employment, and is expected to eventually

 Table 2. SIC industry establishment and employment distribution, private ownership, first quarter (March) 2001

Total ............................................................... 7,717,559 100.0 109,092,587 100.0 $720

Agriculture, forestry, and fishing .......................... 204,851 2.7 1,714,176 1.6 392

Mining .................................................................... 27,060 .4 549,375 .5 1,255

Construction .......................................................... 748,613 9.7 6,357,030 5.8 703

Manufacturing ....................................................... 410,912 5.3 18,030,796 16.5 887

Transportation and public utilities ........................ 325,356 4.2 6,854,424 6.3 892

Wholesale trade .................................................... 650,040 8.4 6,781,007 6.2 932

Retail trade ........................................................... 1,471,361 19.1 23,082,816 21.2 362

Finance, insurance, and real estate ................... 691,174 9.0 7,521,051 6.9 1,430

Services ................................................................ 2,984,643 38.7 37,768,488 34.6 658

Unclassified .......................................................... 203,549 2.6 433,424 .4 739

Industry

Employment Average

weekly

wages

Establishments

Total Total Percent Percent
26 Monthly Labor Review December 2001

NAICS Employment and wages

 Total ............................................................... 7,717,283 100.0 109,097,869 100.0 $720

11 Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting ..................... 102,669 100.0 1,040,942 100.0 380

111 Crop production ......................................................... 47,688 46.4 486,619 46.7 358

112 Animal production ...................................................... 20,648 20.1 196,362 18.9 428

113 Forestry and logging .................................................. 14,011 13.6 74,550 7.2 519

114 Fishing, hunting and trapping .................................... 3,060 3.0 10,632 1.0 619

115 Agriculture and forestry support activities ............... 17,262 16.8 272,779 26.2 336

21 Mining ............................................................................ 25,542 100.0 523,037 100.0 1,247

211 Oil and gas extraction ............................................... 8,282 32.4 122,078 23.3 2,118

212 Mining, except oil and gas ........................................ 8,128 31.8 213,656 40.8 941

213 Support activities for mining ...................................... 9,132 35.8 187,303 35.8 1,024

22 Utilities .......................................................................... 15,895 100.0 596,183 100.0 1,453

221 Utilities ....................................................................... 15,895 100.0 596,183 100.0 1,453

23 Construction .................................................................. 768,194 100.0 6,470,814 100.0 709

236 Construction of buildings ........................................... 228,093 29.7 1,514,734 23.4 770

237 Heavy and civil engineering construction ................. 60,100 7.8 867,144 13.4 785

238 Specialty trade contractors ....................................... 480,001 62.5 4,088,936 63.2 670

31–33 Manufacturing ............................................................... 400,194 100.0 16,811,193 100.0 847

311 Food manufacturing ................................................... 30,156 7.5 1,524,424 9.1 612

312 Beverage and tobacco product manufacturing ......... 4,158 1.0 202,806 1.2 933

313 Textile mills ................................................................. 5,753 1.4 349,515 2.1 566

314 Textile product mills ................................................... 8,559 2.1 207,256 1.2 496

315 Apparel manufacturing ............................................... 15,744 3.9 455,798 2.7 429

316 Leather and allied product manufacturing ................ 1,775 .4 62,780 .4 553

321 Wood product manufacturing .................................... 19,271 4.8 570,881 3.4 551

322 Paper manufacturing .................................................. 7,001 1.7 586,062 3.5 908

323 Printing and related support activities ...................... 43,217 10.8 787,859 4.7 699

324 Petroleum and coal products manufacturing ............ 2,638 .7 117,718 .7 1,382

325 Chemical manufacturing ............................................. 15,889 4.0 968,427 5.8 1,262

326 Plastics and rubber products manufacturing ............ 16,127 4.0 917,214 5.5 673

327 Nonmetallic mineral product manufacturing .............. 18,061 4.5 541,816 3.2 737

331 Primary metal manufacturing ..................................... 6,382 1.6 593,978 3.5 881

332 Fabricated metal product manufacturing ................... 63,993 16.0 1,726,281 10.3 710

333 Machinery manufacturing .......................................... 36,038 9.0 1,418,361 8.4 884

334 Computer and electronic product manufacturing ...... 22,495 5.6 1,849,461 11.0 1,324

335 Electrical equipment and appliance mfg. .................. 7,956 2.0 577,717 3.4 811

336 Transportation equipment manufacturing .................. 15,982 4.0 1,969,681 11.7 1,002

337 Furniture and related product manufacturing ............ 25,818 6.5 662,104 3.9 551

339 Miscellaneous manufacturing .................................... 33,181 8.3 721,054 4.3 739

42 Wholesale trade ............................................................ 570,171 100.0 5,770,941 100.0 956

423 Merchant wholesalers, durable goods ....................... 272,629 47.8 3,157,396 54.7 985

424 Merchant wholesalers, nondurable goods ................. 145,021 25.4 2,011,629 34.9 857

425 Electronic markets and agents and brokers ............. 152,521 26.8 601,916 10.4 1,133

44–45 Retail trade .................................................................... 1,048,112 100.0 15,014,624 100.0 428

441 Motor vehicle and parts dealers ............................... 118,077 11.3 1,834,796 12.2 657

442 Furniture and home furnishings stores ..................... 58,979 5.6 541,036 3.6 513

443 Electronics and appliance stores .............................. 57,719 5.5 566,900 3.8 718

444 Building material and garden supply stores .............. 78,577 7.5 1,116,438 7.4 510

445 Food and beverage stores ........................................ 138,856 13.2 2,927,712 19.5 350

446 Health and personal care stores ............................... 76,835 7.3 943,577 6.3 470

447 Gasoline stations ....................................................... 108,316 10.3 914,840 6.1 295

448 Clothing and clothing accessories stores ................ 130,647 12.5 1,291,072 8.6 338

451 Sporting goods, hobby, book and music stores ....... 66,594 6.4 666,464 4.4 313

452 General merchandise stores ..................................... 41,739 4.0 2,745,125 18.3 334

453 Miscellaneous store retailers .................................... 138,680 13.2 983,228 6.5 379

454 Nonstore retailers ...................................................... 33,093 3.2 483,436 3.2 624

NAICS industry establishment and employment distribution by three-digit code, private ownership,

first quarter (March) 2001

Table 3.

NAICS

code Industry

Establishments Employment Average

weekly

wages Total Percent Percent Total

See footnotes at end of table.
Monthly Labor Review December 2001 27

Continued—NAICS industry establishment and employment distribution by three-digit code,

private ownership, first quarter (March) 2001

NAICS

code Industry

Establishments Employment Average

weekly

wages Total Percent Percent Total

Table 3.

48-49 Transportation and warehousing ................................... 209,570 100.0 4,153,726 100.0 693

481 Air transportation ....................................................... 6,041 2.9 626,834 15.1 994

482 Rail transportation2 .................................................... 49 1 329 1 758

483 Water transportation .................................................. 1,377 .7 52,903 1.3 1,032

484 Truck transportation ................................................... 113,909 54.4 1,375,804 33.1 $639

485 Transit and ground passenger transportation ........... 17,436 8.3 386,273 9.3 378

486 Pipeline transportation .............................................. 2,697 1.3 45,133 1.1 2,824

487 Scenic and sightseeing transportation ..................... 3,004 1.4 26,939 .6 430

488 Support activities for transportation ......................... 37,397 17.8 536,701 12.9 697

491 Postal service ............................................................ 417 .2 1,958 1 603

492 Couriers and messengers ......................................... 14,328 6.8 584,979 14.1 586

493 Warehousing and storage ......................................... 12,915 6.2 515,873 12.4 620

51 Information .................................................................... 151,189 100.0 3,693,343 100.0 1,173

511 Publishing industries, except Internet ...................... 36,642 24.2 1,036,535 28.1 1,180

512 Motion picture and sound recording industries ......... 28,484 18.8 381,095 10.3 964

515 Broadcasting, except Internet ................................... 10,300 6.8 346,074 9.4 1,081

516 Internet publishing and broadcasting ........................ 3,824 2.5 49,854 1.3 1,465

517 Telecommunications ................................................... 41,212 27.3 1,320,128 35.7 1,184

518 ISPs, search portals, and data processing ............... 27,374 18.1 514,022 13.9 1,357

519 Other information services ........................................ 3,353 2.2 45,635 1.2 730

52 Finance and insurance.................................................. 410,053 100.0 5,615,105 100.0 1,598

521 Monetary authorities - central bank .......................... 141 1 22,851 .4 994

522 Credit intermediation and related activities ............... 161,172 39.3 2,566,959 45.7 1,022

523 Securities, commodity contracts, investments ........ 66,717 16.3 839,499 15.0 4,644

524 Insurance carriers and related activities .................. 176,689 43.1 2,098,735 37.4 1,086

525 Funds, trusts, and other financial vehicles .............. 5,334 1.3 87,061 1.6 1,624

53 Real estate and rental and leasing .............................. 307,180 100.0 2,006,347 100.0 646

531 Real estate ................................................................. 241,687 78.7 1,311,382 65.4 678

532 Rental and leasing services ...................................... 62,259 20.3 666,105 33.2 553

533 Lessors of nonfinancial intangible assets ................ 3,234 1.1 28,860 1.4 1,384

54 Professional and technical services ............................ 816,374 100.0 7,008,652 100.0 1,104

541 Professional and technical services ......................... 816,374 100.0 7,008,652 100.0 1,104

55 Management of companies and enterprises ................ 37,665 100.0 1,768,835 100.0 1,532

551 Management of companies and enterprises ............. 37,665 100.0 1,768,835 100.0 1,532

56 Administrative and waste services .............................. 386,546 100.0 7,717,427 100.0 464

561 Administrative and support services ......................... 366,865 94.9 7,408,508 96.0 452

562 Waste management and remediation services ......... 19,681 5.1 308,919 4.0 763

61 Educational services .................................................... 65,040 100.0 1,899,764 100.0 597

611 Educational services ................................................. 65,040 100.0 1,899,764 100.0 597

62 Health care and social assistance ............................... 615,318 100.0 12,808,112 100.0 594

621 Ambulatory health care services .............................. 435,483 70.8 4,381,953 34.2 735

622 Hospitals .................................................................... 7,037 1.1 3,972,415 31.0 681

623 Nursing and residential care facilities ....................... 59,770 9.7 2,627,571 20.5 400

624 Social assistance ...................................................... 113,028 18.4 1,826,173 14.3 343

71 Arts, entertainment, and recreation ............................. 103,435 100.0 1,644,035 100.0 491

711 Performing arts and spectator sports ....................... 37,198 36.0 353,891 21.5 1,033

712 Museums, historical sites, zoos, and parks ............. 4,522 4.4 107,544 6.5 475

713 Amusements, gambling, and recreation .................... 61,715 59.7 1,182,600 71.9 332

72 Accommodation and food services .............................. 525,350 100.0 9,939,915 100.0 262

721 Accommodation .......................................................... 59,822 11.4 1,813,217 18.2 404

722 Food services and drinking places ........................... 465,528 88.6 8,126,698 81.8 230

See footnotes at end of table.
28 Monthly Labor Review December 2001

NAICS Employment and wages

81 Other services, except public administration .............. 955,181 100.0 4,176,767 100.0 439

811 Repair and maintenance ............................................ 228,337 23.9 1,251,957 30.0 535

812 Personal and laundry services .................................. 174,421 18.3 1,238,638 29.7 359

813 Membership associations and organizations ............ 128,126 13.4 1,253,908 30.0 478

814 Private households .................................................... 424,297 44.4 432,264 10.3 271

99 Unclassified .................................................................. 203,605 100.0 438,107 100.0 741

999 Unclassified ............................................................... 203,605 100.0 438,107 100.0 741

Continued—NAICS industry establishment and employment distribution by three-digit code,

private ownership, first quarter (March) 2001

NAICS

code Industry

Establishments Employment Average

weekly

wages Total Percent Percent Total

Table 3.

move into the first spot. Finance and insurance is the highest paid sector ($1,598), slightly ahead of management of

companies and enterprises ($1,532). At the other end of the

pay scale is accommodation and food services. At $262, it is

the lowest at the sector level. It is slightly more than a third of

the U.S. average weekly wage for the private sector.

Residential and nonresidential construction. While the

supersectors are BLS-specific extensions of the NAICS structure upwards, BLS also has extended the NAICS structure

downwards in the specialty trade contractors subsector

of construction. In the BLS implementation of NAICS, each

base group in specialty trade contractors, for example, masonry contractors or roofing contractors, is further divided, based on whether the establishment’s predominant

activity is conducted in residential construction or nonresidential construction. While detailed information is not available at this early stage, it is possible to say that in every

trade, substantially higher average weekly wages are paid

in the nonresidential segment.

Look-alike industries: similar but different. Judging by their

titles alone, many NAICS groupings might appear to be the

same as similarly named groups in the SIC. Many new industry groups and look-alikes, however, are significantly different. Still other NAICS industry groups are completely composed of the same firms that went into a given SIC grouping.

These groups, known as “directs,” constitute 64 percent of

NAICS employment and 68 percent of SIC employment. The 4

percent difference is caused primarily by the movement of

headquarters and other auxiliaries into their own NAICS

groups.

Many of these look-alikes will have different content under the new system due to the significant differences in how

some establishments, known as auxiliaries, are classified under NAICS. Auxiliaries are primarily engaged in providing management or support services for other establishments of the

same enterprise. The auto company headquarters discussed

above presents an excellent example of an auxiliary reporter.

The SIC grouping in manufacturing called transportation

equipment has its NAICS sound-alike subsector called transportation equipment manufacturing. It would be reasonable

to assume that these series should have the same totals

under either system. However, because the headquarters establishment moves out of manufacturing and into management, the motor vehicle manufacturing employment count

will be lower in the NAICS system. Other nonmanufacturing

activities executed by auxiliary units of the auto company,

such as warehousing, research and development, accounting, and so on, similarly move out of the manufacturing

category into other sectors. Employment in NAICS transportation equipment manufacturing is 1,969,681 compared with

1,786,055 employees in SIC transportation equipment. (See

table 4.) For this reason, the differences between look-alikes

are minor compared with the differences caused by breaking

old groups apart.

Look-alike NAICS groups also differ from their SIC counterparts, because many of them consist of subsets of the old SIC

groups. For example, the SIC group transportation by air

looks like NAICS air transportation. But the air transportation subsector loses the air courier industry, which derives

much of its employment from express package delivery companies. The air courier industry moves to the new NAICS couriers and messengers subsector. Other industries moving out

of transportation by air are air ambulance services and private air traffic control. Air transportation thus shrinks to

1 Value too small to display.

2 Most railroad employees are covered by unemployment programs

under the Railroad Retirement Act and thus are not included in this

article.
Monthly Labor Review December 2001 29

SIC

code Industry

Establishments Employment Average

weekly

wages Total Percent Percent Total

Table 4. SIC industry establishment and employment distribution by two-digit code, private ownership,

first quarter (March) 2001

 Total ................................................. 7,717,559 100.0 109,092,587 100.0 $720

Agriculture, forestry, and fishing .................. 204,851 100.0 1,714,176 100.0 392

01 Agricultural production, crops ................... 46,987 22.9 486,957 28.4 362

02 Agricultural production, livestock .............. 20,640 10.1 197,970 11.5 433

07 Agricultural services .................................. 130,386 63.6 990,221 57.8 391

08 Forestry ...................................................... 3,801 1.9 28,847 1.7 534

09 Fishing, hunting, and trapping ................... 3,037 1.5 10,181 .6 667

Mining ............................................................ 27,060 100.0 549,375 100.0 1,255

10 Metal mining ............................................... 753 2.8 36,626 6.7 1,143

12 Coal mining ................................................. 2,028 7.5 77,364 14.1 1,061

13 Oil and gas extraction ............................... 18,095 66.9 328,673 59.8 1,457

14 Nonmetallic minerals, except fuels ........... 6,184 22.9 106,712 19.4 810

Construction .................................................. 748,613 100.0 6,357,030 100.0 703

15 General building contractors ..................... 219,208 29.3 1,394,490 21.9 761

16 Heavy construction, ex. building ............... 43,280 5.8 830,709 13.1 771

17 Special trade contractors .......................... 486,125 64.9 4,131,831 65.0 669

Manufacturing ............................................... 410,912 100.0 18,030,796 100.0 887

20 Food and kindred products ........................ 23,612 5.7 1,659,840 9.2 700

21 Tobacco products ...................................... 191 1 32,780 .2 1,637

22 Textile mill products ................................... 6,544 1.6 494,972 2.7 563

23 Apparel and other textile products ............ 22,464 5.5 589,066 3.3 465

24 Lumber and wood products ....................... 39,236 9.5 777,647 4.3 559

25 Furniture and fixtures ................................ 12,070 2.9 540,830 3.0 587

26 Paper and allied products .......................... 7,679 1.9 638,294 3.5 928

27 Printing and publishing .............................. 64,269 15.6 1,518,898 8.4 813

28 Chemicals and allied products ................... 15,382 3.7 1,026,022 5.7 1,399

29 Petroleum and coal products ..................... 2,712 .7 121,867 .7 1,457

30 Rubber and misc. plastics products .......... 16,949 4.1 975,652 5.4 682

31 Leather and leather products .................... 1,827 .4 64,388 .4 591

32 Stone, clay, and glass products ............... 18,081 4.4 567,745 3.1 788

33 Primary metal industries ............................ 7,912 1.9 674,915 3.7 893

34 Fabricated metal products ......................... 39,755 9.7 1,510,288 8.4 727

35 Industrial machinery and equipment ......... 62,806 15.3 2,086,295 11.6 1,014

36 Electronic and other electric equipment .... 20,342 5.0 1,735,961 9.6 1,103

37 Transportation equipment .......................... 15,837 3.9 1,786,055 9.9 1,083

38 Instruments and related products ............. 14,136 3.4 847,393 4.7 1,143

39 Miscellaneous manufacturing industries ... 19,108 4.7 381,888 2.1 665

Transportation and public utilities ................. 325,356 100.0 6,854,424 100.0 892

40 Railroad transportation2 ............................. 153 1 1,664 1 581

41 Local and interurban passenger transit .... 20,967 6.4 491,935 7.2 392

42 Trucking and warehousing ......................... 147,676 45.4 1,829,199 26.7 621

44 Water transportation .................................. 9,492 2.9 184,628 2.7 875

45 Transportation by air .................................. 16,996 5.2 1,283,235 18.7 800

46 Pipelines, except natural gas .................... 1,017 .3 13,785 .2 1,391

47 Transportation services ............................. 50,559 15.5 473,094 6.9 692

48 Communication ........................................... 52,578 16.2 1,726,560 25.2 1,173

49 Electric, gas, and sanitary services ......... 25,918 8.0 850,324 12.4 1,434

Wholesale trade ............................................ 650,040 100.0 6,781,007 100.0 932

50 Wholesale trade, durable goods ................ 419,249 64.5 4,048,472 59.7 985

51 Wholesale trade, nondurable goods .......... 230,791 35.5 2,732,535 40.3 854

See footnotes at end of table.
30 Monthly Labor Review December 2001

NAICS Employment and wages

626,834 employees under NAICS, from 1,283,235 employees

under the SIC system.

About the data

The data presented in this article are preliminary and cover

the private sector, as tabulated using the 2002 version of

NAICS. Final data may differ, as additional business reports

for this time period are reported to State unemployment insurance systems and then, ultimately, to BLS. The tabulations under NAICS and SIC vary slightly, due to the treatment

SIC

code

Establishments Employment

Retail trade ...................................................... 1,471,361 100.0 23,082,816 100.0 $362

52 Building materials and garden supplies ....... 66,894 4.5 998,650 4.3 495

53 General merchandise stores ....................... 40,168 2.7 2,799,206 12.1 373

54 Food stores .................................................. 173,033 11.8 3,432,231 14.9 348

55 Automotive dealers and service stations .... 179,315 12.2 2,390,298 10.4 573

56 Apparel and accessory stores .................... 101,170 6.9 1,155,021 5.0 345

57 Furniture and homefurnishings stores ......... 120,416 8.2 1,134,516 4.9 547

58 Eating and drinking places .......................... 459,090 31.2 8,106,573 35.1 236

59 Miscellaneous retail ..................................... 331,275 22.5 3,066,321 13.3 425

Finance, insurance, and real estate .............. 691,174 100.0 7,521,051 100.0 1,430

60 Depository institutions ................................. 98,448 14.2 2,044,511 27.2 987

61 Nondepository institutions ........................... 60,704 8.8 698,336 9.3 1,219

62 Security and commodity brokers ................. 57,113 8.3 787,374 10.5 4,818

63 Insurance carriers ....................................... 45,859 6.6 1,465,241 19.5 1,190

64 Insurance agents, brokers, and service ..... 133,856 19.4 769,219 10.2 940

65 Real estate ................................................... 264,862 38.3 1,503,617 20.0 701

67 Holding and other investment offices ......... 30,332 4.4 252,753 3.4 2,226

Services .......................................................... 2,984,643 100.0 37,768,488 100.0 658

70 Hotels and other lodging places .................. 60,288 2.0 1,833,367 4.9 412

72 Personal services ........................................ 191,162 6.4 1,327,847 3.5 338

73 Business services ....................................... 544,463 18.2 9,627,979 25.5 730

75 Auto repair, services, and parking .............. 193,224 6.5 1,247,629 3.3 498

76 Miscellaneous repair services ..................... 67,658 2.3 369,430 1.0 628

78 Motion pictures ............................................ 44,210 1.5 591,494 1.6 744

79 Amusement and recreation services ........... 103,657 3.5 1,594,677 4.2 472

80 Health services ............................................ 470,032 15.7 10,234,868 27.1 659

81 Legal services ............................................. 164,540 5.5 1,017,279 2.7 1,093

82 Educational services ................................... 49,637 1.7 1,837,568 4.9 609

83 Social services ............................................ 171,649 5.8 2,909,756 7.7 371

84 Museums, botanical, zoological gardens .... 4,152 .1 103,745 .3 483

86 Membership organizations ........................... 102,726 3.4 1,020,720 2.7 463

87 Engineering and management services ...... 380,588 12.8 3,570,395 9.5 1,061

88 Private households ...................................... 424,296 14.2 432,247 1.1 271

89 Services, nec ............................................... 12,361 .4 49,487 .1 1,279

Unclassified..................................................... 203,549 100.0 433,424 100.0 739

99 Nonclassifiable establishments ................... 203,549 100.0 433,424 100.0 739

Average

weekly

wages

Industry

Table 4.

 Total Total Percent Percent

of selected records with incomplete identifiers. While BLS

does release CEW industry data at the Federal, State, and local

government levels, this article focuses on the data covering

the private sector, because that best serves the purpose of

conducting a brief review of data under the NAICS structure.

The average weekly wage is created by dividing the total

quarterly wage data reported to CEW by average quarterly

employment, and then dividing that figure by 13, the number

of weeks in the quarter. It is not adjusted for the number of

hours paid. This feature accounts for some of the wide differences between industries, as some industries have greater

Continued—SIC industry establishment and employment distribution by two-digit code private ownership,

first quarter (March) 2001

1 Value too small to display.

2 Most railroad employees are covered by unemployment programs

under the Railroad Retirement Act and thus are not included in this

article.
Monthly Labor Review December 2001 31

proportions of their employees regularly working a full week

than do others. The average weekly wage does provide a

good approximation of the amount of the weekly gross wage

for each industry. Its total quarterly wage counterpart also is

useful for reporting how many gross payroll dollars are produced by various industries each quarter.

THIS FIRST LOOK AT NAICS DATA acquaints users with the

Notes

ACKNOWLEDGMENT: The author thanks John Dickson, Robert Jordan,

and David Talan for their extensive assistance and advice throughout

the development of this article.

1

 The companion article, “Implementing the North American

Industry Classification System at BLS,” by James A. Walker and John

B. Murphy, on pages 15–21, provides a general background on NAICS

and a timetable for BLS implementation in all of its programs.

2 SESAs, for example, are State Departments of Labor or

Workforce Commissions.

new NAICS structure. In 2002, BLS will release ratio tables

depicting the relationship between NAICS and SIC series.

These tables and their accompanying files will allow users

to convert existing SIC series to a NAICS basis. Comprehensive 2001 CEW NAICS data will be available in the fall of 2002

for every county, metropolitan area, and State, as well as at

the national level.

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