Legal services

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Workforce

1.14M

2018 BLS Estimate

Average Employee Age

44.9

Estimated Job Growth

0.1%

10-Year Projection

Average Salary

$105,179

Average Male Salary

$156,387

Average Female Salary

$70,771

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 and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive, Legal secretaries and administrative assistants, and Office clerks, general. On average, full-time employees in the Legal services Industry Group work 44.9 hours per week and have an average annual salary of $115,152. Part-time employees in the same industry work 21.9 hours and earn an average annual salary of $41,757.

The locations with the highest concentration of employees in the Legal services Industry Group are District of Columbia (Central) PUMA, DC, Philadelphia City (Center City) PUMA, PA, and District of Columbia (West) PUMA, DC. 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 Chief executives & legislators.

Occupations

Occupations by Share

1.14M

Workforce (BLS Estimate)

ACS Estimate: 1.47M

3.32%

1 Year Growth

± 2.78%

The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that there were 1.14M people employed in the Legal services Industry Group in 2018.

According to ACS estimates, the number of people employed in the Legal services Industry Group has been growing at a rate of 3.32%, , from 1.43M people in 2017 to 1.47M people in 2018.

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 43.6%, followed by Paralegals & legal assistants with 21% and Secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive with 6.27%.

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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 and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive, Legal secretaries and administrative assistants, 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, Legal secretaries and administrative assistants, and Lawyers, & judges, magistrates, & other judicial workers.

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Highest Paid

The highest paid occupations in Legal services, by average wage, are Chief executives & legislators, Sales representatives of services, except advertising, insurance, financial services, and travel, and General & operations managers.

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Wages

Average Salary

$105,179

AVERAGE WAGE

± $2,524

On average, employees in the Legal services Industry Group make $105,179 per year. This number makes Legal services the 7 highest paying Industry Group in the United States out of a total of 269 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

0.509

WAGE GINI

Legal services has a wage GINI of 0.509, 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 $156,387 and $70,771. So too tend to earn more than other races and ethnicities in this industry.

Gender Composition

882k

FEMALE WORKFORCE

±23k

592k

MALE WORKFORCE

±18.9k

59.8% 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

$156,387

AVERAGE MALE SALARY

±$5,023

$70,771

AVERAGE FEMALE SALARY

±$2,098

On average, Male workers in the Legal services Industry Group make 2.21 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

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

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

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

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, both by number of employees and output, from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics. The national workforce is projected to grow 6.89% in the next ten years. The legal services industry has a lower projected workforce growth at 0.1%. Its projected 10-year growth in output (0.8%) is lower than the projected national growth in output (22.9%).