Legal services

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Workforce

1.12M

2016 BLS Estimate

Average Employee Age

45.2

Estimated Job Growth

0.2%

10-Year Projection

Average Salary

$102,705

Average Male Salary

$152,035

Average Female Salary

$69,286

About

Workforce

Diversity

Input/Output

Projections

About

The top three occupations in the Legal services Industry Group are Lawyers, & judges, magistrates, & other judicial workers, Paralegals & legal assistants, Secretaries & administrative assistants, Miscellaneous legal support workers, and Office clerks, general. On average, full-time employees in the Legal services Industry Group work 45 hours per week and have an average annual salary of $113,114. Part-time employees in the same industry work 22.1 hours and earn an average annual salary of $38,083.

The locations with the highest concentration of employees in the Legal services Industry Group are District of Columbia (Central) PUMA, DC, District of Columbia (West) PUMA, DC, and Arlington County (North) PUMA, VA. The industry that purchases the most products or services from the Hospitals Industry Group is Legal services.

Photo by Douglas Palmer

Professional, Scientific & Technical Services Professional, Scientific & Management, and Administrative & Waste Management Services

Workforce

A snapshot of jobs, wages, and opportunities in the Legal services Industry Group. Lawyers, & judges, magistrates, & other judicial workers are the most common position, but the Legal services Industry Group employs a relatively high number of Paralegals & legal assistants, compared to other industries.

The highest average salary in Legal services goes to Public relations specialists.

Occupations

Occupations by Share

1.12M

Workforce (BLS Estimate)

ACS Estimate: 1.43M

0.56%

1 Year Growth

± 2.88%

The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that there were 1.12M people employed in the Legal services Industry Group in 2016.

According to ACS estimates, the number of people employed in the Legal services Industry Group has been growing at a rate of 0.56%, , from 1.42M people in 2016 to 1.43M people in 2017.

The following graphic shows the share of employment in Legal services by various occupations according to ACS estimates. Lawyers, & judges, magistrates, & other judicial workers represent the largest share of positions held in Legal services at 43.1%, followed by Paralegals & legal assistants with 21.8% and Secretaries & administrative assistants with 10.4%.

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Most Common

The most common occupations in the Legal services Industry Group, by number of employees, are Lawyers, & judges, magistrates, & other judicial workers, Paralegals & legal assistants, Secretaries & administrative assistants, Miscellaneous legal support workers, and Office clerks, general.

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Most Specialized

Compared to other Industry Groups, Legal services employs an unusually high number of Paralegals & legal assistants, Lawyers, & judges, magistrates, & other judicial workers, and Judicial law clerks.

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Highest Paid

The highest paid occupations in Legal services, by average wage, are Public relations specialists, Chief executives & legislators, and Other financial clerks.

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Wages

Average Salary

$102,705

AVERAGE WAGE

± $2,507

On average, employees in the Legal services Industry Group make $102,705 per year. This number makes Legal services the 7 highest paying Industry Group in the United States out of a total of 266 Industry Groups.

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Wage by Location

HIGHEST PAYING PUBLIC USE MICRODATA AREA

HIGHEST PAYING PUMAS

This map shows which public use microdata areas (PUMAs) pay the highest average salary to employees in the Legal services Industry Group.

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Wage Distribution

0.512

WAGE GINI

Legal services has a wage GINI of 0.512, which is more than than the national average of 0.479. In other words, wages are distributed less evenly in Legal services (shown in red) in comparison to the national average for those wage buckets (shown in gray).

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Opportunities

Spatial Concentration

Public Use Microdata Areas with RCA

This map shows the PUMAs in the United States that have revealed comparative advantage in the Legal services Industry Group.

These are locations that employ more people in the Legal services Industry Group than expected given both the size of that location's overall labor pool and the national size of the Legal services Industry Group.

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Diversity

Demographic information on the Legal services Industry Group in the US. Male employees tend to earn more than Female employees, with average respective salaries of $152,035 and $69,286. So too tend to earn more than other races and ethnicities in this industry.

Gender Composition

851k

FEMALE WORKFORCE

±22.6k

576k

MALE WORKFORCE

±18.6k

59.6% of workers in the Legal services Industry Group are Female, making them the more common gender in the workforce. This chart shows the gender breakdown of the Legal services Industry Group.

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Wage by Gender in Common Jobs

$152,035

AVERAGE MALE SALARY

±$4,940

$69,286

AVERAGE FEMALE SALARY

±$2,126

On average, Male workers in the Legal services Industry Group make 2.19 times more than their Female counterparts. This chart shows the gender-based wage disparity in the 5 most common occupations in the Legal services Industry Group.

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Wage by Race & Ethnicity in Common Jobs

RACE OR ETHNICITY WITH THE HIGHEST AVERAGE SALARY

White
Asian
Two or More Races

On average, White employees in the Legal services Industry Group earn 1.05 times more than other races and ethnicities. This chart shows the race and ethnicity-based wage disparities in the 5 most common occupations in the Legal services Industry Group.

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Input/Output

Estimates of the sources of the costs and the purchasers of the products in the Legal services Industry Group. Based on estimates from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, this section indicates the amount of money spent by a specific industry in other industries. Professional and business services has the highest single input, by dollars, to the Legal services Industry Group, and the largest industry purchasing services from the Legal services Industry Group is Professional and business services.

In this visualization, click on a category to expand or collapse it. All of the industries listed to the left are those places from which the highlighted industry has made purchases. They are the intermediate inputs to the highlighted industry. All those industries listed on the right side are those industries that have made purchases from the highlighted industry. They are the use of outputs of the highlighted industry. The visualizations below offer alternative ways to see and understand this data.

Industrial Flow

The closest comparable data for Legal services is from Professional, Scientific & Management, and Administrative & Waste Management Services.

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Intermediate Inputs

HIGHEST INPUT INDUSTRY

The Legal services Industry Group gets the most input, by its share of the cost of all intermediate inputs, from the Professional and business services Industry. This visualization does not include labor and capital costs.

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Use of Output by Other Industries

LARGEST PURCHASING INDUSTRY

The Professional and business services Industry purchases the greatest share of products and services from the Legal services Industry Group in order to produce other goods and services. Purchases of the Legal services Industry Group for final consumption by consumers, businesses, or government are not included here.

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Projections

Growth projections of the Legal services Industry Group, both by number of employees and output, from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics. The national workforce is projected to grow 8.13% in the next ten years. The Legal services Industry Group has a lower projected workforce growth at 0.2%. Its projected 10-year growth in output (1.9%) is lower than the projected national growth in output (24.6%).