US Information Sector
Industry Profile Report
Dive Deep into the industry with a 25+ page industry report (pdf format) including the following chapters
Industry Overview Current Conditions, Industry Structure, How Firms Operate, Industry Trends, Credit Underwriting & Risks, and Industry Forecast.
Call Preparation Call Prep Questions, Industry Terms, and Weblinks.
Financial Insights Working Capital, Capital Financing, Business Valuation, and Financial Benchmarks.
Industry Profile Excerpts
Industry Overview
The 271,249 establishments in the US information sector produce, manage, and distribute information, including news, entertainment, cultural programming, and data. The sector includes industries that provide the infrastructure and systems to transmit and distribute content, data, and communications, as well as those that allow customers to search for, store, and process data.
Fads and Trends
Success in the media and publishing industries is largely dependent on consumer acceptance, which is subject to fads and trends.
Evolving Technology
The information sector relies on technology, which can evolve rapidly and fundamentally change the dynamics of individual industries.
Industry size & Structure
The information sector is comprised of 271,249 establishments that employ 3 million workers and generate $2.2 trillion in annual revenue, according to government sources.
- The information sector represents 5.4% of the nation's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and employs 1.3% of the country's workers.
- The sector is concentrated at the top with the 20 largest firms representing 51% of revenue, but it is fragmented at the bottom.
- In addition to employer establishments, the information sector has 359,000 owner-operated establishments with no employees. Subsectors with the highest numbers of nonemployer establishments are motion picture and sound recording (38%); publishing (18%); and data processing, hosting, and related services (13%). The owners of nonemployer establishments typically perform the work and may outsource support functions like marketing and accounting.
- The information sector shed about 31,000 establishments in 2021, which equals about 11.4% of existing establishments, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. However, the sector added about 54,000 new establishments, which is equivalent to 19.8% of existing establishments. As a result, the sector had a growth rate of 8.4%.
- The information sector is forecast to grow its employment base by 7.4% overall in 2021-2031, which is higher than the national average of 5.3% for all jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Industry Forecast
US Information Sector Industry Growth
Recent Developments
May 10, 2024 - Labor Costs Increase
- Labor costs increased during 2023, as industry employment increased slightly while wages for nonsupervisory employees increased moderately, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Information sector revenue increased 2.7% year over year and 1.25% quarter over quarter during Q2 2023 to $572,295 billion, according to the US Census Bureau.
- The information sector was the only one of the 10 industry sectors monitored by human resources management software and services firm ADP that posted job losses in April. The information sector lost 4,000 jobs during the month, according to the ADP National Employment Report. The sector also posted its smallest pay gains since August 2021.
- Global smartphone shipments decreased 3.2% year over year to 1.17 billion units in 2023, according to International Data Corporation (IDC). The lowest full-year volume in a decade was driven largely by macroeconomic challenges and elevated inventory early in the year, according to IDC. Growth in the second half of the year has boosted confidence in an expected recovery in 2024. The fourth quarter of 2023 saw 8.5% year-over-year growth and 326.1 million shipments, higher than the forecast of 7.3% growth.
- Businesses in the information sector reported greater levels of artificial intelligence (AI) use than the national average, according to the US Census Bureau's most recent Business Trends and Outlook Survey. About 13.8% of information sector businesses indicated that they are currently using the technology while only 3.8% of all businesses surveyed reported using it. Businesses in the professional, scientific, and technical services sector also reported a large share (9.1%) of AI adopters compared to overall totals.
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