US Professional and Technical Services 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 976,264 professional and technical services establishments in the US provide specialized expertise to clients and typically operate as third-party contractors. As opposed to producing a physical product, professional service providers are primarily knowledge-based businesses that offer advice and make available the skills of their employees.
Dependence on Government Projects
The US government is one of the largest consumers of professional services, and federal, state, and local government organizations are important customers for several industries in the sector.
Dependence on Expensive, Skilled Labor
The professional and technical services industry is dependent on highly skilled labor and jobs that command high wages.
Industry size & Structure
The professional and technical services sector is comprised of 976,264 establishments that employ 10.8 million workers and generate $2.8 trillion in annual revenue, according to government sources.
- The professional services sector represents 6.7% of the nation's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and employs 7% of the country's workers.
- The sector is fragmented with the 20 largest firms representing 11% of revenue.
- In addition to employer establishments, the professional services sector has 3.8 million owner-operated establishments with no employees. Subsectors with the highest numbers of nonemployer establishments are management, scientific, and technical consulting services (25%); accounting, tax preparation, bookkeeping, and payroll services (10%); and computer systems design and related services (9%). The owners of nonemployer establishments typically perform the work and may outsource support functions like marketing and accounting.
- The professional and technical services sector shed about 237,000 establishments in 2021, which equals about 14.7% of existing establishments, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. However, the sector added about 353,000 new establishments, which is equivalent to 22% of existing establishments. As a result, the sector had a growth rate of 7.2%.
- The professional and technical services sector is forecast to grow its employment base by 10.5% overall in 2023-2033, which is much higher than the national average of 4% for all jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Industry Forecast
US Professional and Technical Services Sector Industry Growth
Recent Developments
Mar 4, 2025 - Electronic Employee Monitoring Rises
- Electronic monitoring of in-person and remote workers by employers is on the rise, according to a recent study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The study found that about 80% of employers use some kind of system that monitors online activity, employee location, and even records keystrokes, among other methods. The trend risks further eroding employee/employer trust. According to Gartner Research’s HR Advisory Group, only 52% of employees stated that they trusted their employers and 62% of employers trusted their employees. Hiring trends increasingly show that trusted managers are as important to new hires almost as much as pay - about 92% per video conferencing company Owl Labs. As the use of monitoring tools grows, so does employee stress with recent surveys showing employees took less breaks, felt pressure to work faster, and would consider leaving a job if surveillance increased too much.
- Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices are being slashed at large companies given the political climate and the Trump administration’s slew of executive orders banning DEI initiatives across the federal government. Wall Street is fearful of running afoul of anti-DEI forces among the feds which are banning DEI programs from federal contractors and directing authorities to investigate “illegal DEI” practices at public companies. High profile DEI scalebacks include Amazon, Meta, Walmart, Starbucks, Ford, Boeing, McDonald’s, and Target. Other companies, however, have doubled down. Apple asked its shareholders to retain its DEI policies, and Costco’s board of directors convinced 98% of stockholders to retain its initiatives. Cancelling DEI can also receive significant pushback, as Target after it cut the initiative after touting it as a company policy for years. Some shareholders have filed a fraud lawsuit against the retailer as a result.
- Law firms could be extremely busy in 2025 if the current wave of litigation against the Trump administration’s attempts to radically overhaul the government through executive orders continues. More than 50 lawsuits have been filed against the federal government by advocacy groups, Democratic state attorneys general, grant recipients and corporate law firms, among others. Eight of those firms are some of the largest in the country, including WilmerHale, Arnold & Porter, and Jenner & Block. Given the speed and breadth of the executive orders, law firms have been proactively sending clients analysis on legal challenges, webinars, and putting together task forces and creating websites to track and explain all the changes as best they can. Corporate clients especially want to know if they are being targeted for running afoul of anti-DEI initiatives, according to leading law firms.
- Losses in the financial services industry could top $40 billion by 2027, mostly due to GenAI scams, according to Delotte’s Center for Financial Services. It is a substantial increase from the $12.3 billion the industry lost from fraud in 2023. The Financial Regulatory Authority reports that scammers have increasingly used AI to target financial institutions. Everything from creating phony documents to open brokerage accounts or steal an existing account to deepfake audio and video of trusted investment advisors and imposter websites asking for money. The FBI has warned the industry of the risks, and so far many financial institutions have been cautious with how they incorporate the technology, limiting GenAI to eliminating more mundane tasks such as research and data analysis.
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