US Administrative and Waste Management Services Sector

The 450,500 establishments in the administrative and waste management services sector are comprised of industries that provide routine support to other organizations. The sector includes firms that provide employment services, investigative and security services, travel arrangements and reservations, waste management and remediation, services to buildings and dwellings, and business, office, and administrative support services. Firms typically operate as third-party contractors and may serve a variety of industries or individual households.

Client Industries Vulnerable to Economic Change

Demand for administrative support and waste management services is driven by the financial performance of customer industries, which can be vulnerable to downturns in the economy.

Solid Waste Tonnage Rises, Recycling Rates Stall

Waste generation has risen steadily over time, and recycling and composting rates have increased as well.

Oct 6, 2026 - Flexible Scheduling Is Common Across the US Workforce

• The US Bureau of Labor Statistics says flexible work arrangements remain widespread among wage and salary workers based on data collected in 2024 and 2025. About 57% of workers could vary their start and end times, while 34% worked from home at least occasionally and 28% had days worked entirely at home. Flexible scheduling can be an important recruiting and retention tool for office, professional, and support roles, even though many field-based jobs require fixed locations and shifts. The data also show 59% of workers knew their schedules at least four weeks in advance, while 9% received one day or less of notice. Employers balancing customer coverage, route work, facilities staffing, and back-office functions may need different scheduling approaches across occupations.
• Younger US workers without four-year college degrees are experiencing one of their strongest job markets in years, particularly in in-person and blue-collar fields, according to The Wall Street Journal. Demand has remained comparatively healthy in construction, manufacturing, hospitality, and other jobs that cannot easily be automated or performed remotely, while retirements and slower labor-force growth are tightening some talent pools. For employment services firms, stronger opportunities for nondegree workers could increase demand from employers seeking help recruiting, screening, and placing candidates in hard-to-fill frontline and skilled positions. At the same time, staffing agencies may face greater competition for available workers, increasing the importance of pay, scheduling flexibility, training, and faster placement processes.
• The US economy added 29,000 jobs in September 2026, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), and the unemployment rate increased to 4.2%. September’s gains were significantly below the 84,000 jobs that economists surveyed by Dow Jones had expected. Weaker job growth in September came even as the labor participation rate rose 0.2% to 61.8%. However, wage growth fell to its lowest level since May 2021. September job growth was led by healthcare (+17,000 jobs), construction (+11,000), and manufacturing (+9,000). Other key sectors lost jobs, including government (down 17,000 jobs), temporary help services (-11,000), information services (-10,000), and financial services (-7,000).
• Waste Dive reports that shrinking landfill capacity in the Northeast is accelerating investment in waste-by-rail networks that move municipal solid waste to more distant disposal sites. About 23% of the region's 2024 disposal volume went to landfills expected to close within five years, while roughly 12 million tons were exported from the region, according to the Northeast waste Management Officials' Association. Major operators including Waste Connections, Casella, and Republic Services are using rail-served landfills and transfer stations to extend disposal options. For waste management services providers, tighter local capacity could raise transportation and logistics complexity while increasing the strategic value of rail access and vertically integrated disposal assets. Rail can reduce fuel use and move larger volumes, but added handling, long cycle times, infrastructure needs, and higher shipping costs can limit its economics.

Industry size & Structure

The administrative and waste management services sector is comprised of 450,500 establishments that employ 9 million workers and generate $1.4 trillion in annual revenue, according to government sources.

• The administrative and waste management services sector represents 3% of the nation's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and employs 5.7% of the country's workers.
• The sector is fragmented with the 20 largest firms representing 17% of revenue.
• In addition to employer establishments, the administrative and waste management services sector has 2.9 million owner-operated establishments with no employees. Subsectors with the highest numbers of nonemployer establishments are services to dwellings (62%); office administrative services (12%); and business support services (9%). The owners of nonemployer firms typically perform the work and may outsource support functions like marketing and accounting.
• The administrative and waste management services sector has shed about 38,500 establishments annually, which equals about 10.6% of existing establishments. However, the sector has added about 42,900 new establishments annually, which is equivalent to 11.8% of existing establishments. As a result, the sector has an average growth rate of 1.2%.