The service activities take many forms, for example, a business service occurs when one firm writes advertising copy for another firm, when a company leases an X-ray machine to a physician's private practice, when a programmer develops a custom software application for a firm's accounting department, or even when a bodyguard is hired for an executive. These examples do not convey the sheer number of activities performed, but they do hint at the variety of services captured in the industry. Business services is divided into eight major groups, as shown in table 1. The computer services group encompasses a wider set of activities, from network design to software training to the leasing of computer hardware. The fact that miscellaneous business services, and its sub-industry, business services not elsewhere classified, also employ such large shares of workers simply underscores the eclectic nature of the industry in total.
Business services has a large presence in both the national and regional economies.
In 1994, 6.7 percent of the nation's payrolled workers were employed in business services industries. Regionally, the shares were 6.1 percent in New England and 6.8 percent in Massachusetts. By comparison, only two other two-digit industries employ more workers. Health services leads both regionally and nationally, with employment shares of 12.0 and 9.7 percent in 1994, respectively. Eating and drinking establishments is second, with 1994 shares of 6.9 and 7.7 percent, respectively.