U.S. information sector: unemployment rate 2010-2022

In July 2022, the unemployment rate in the U.S. information sector stood at 2.5 percent, dropping from 4.2 percent as of January 2022. In 2020, the tech sector was hit hard by the economic recession brought about by the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. Since then, the unemployment rate declined to 7.4 percent in January 2021.

Information sector in the U.S.

The U.S. information sector consists of those businesses involved in the production or distribution of information, those involved in providing a means to distribute information and data, and those involved in data processing. More specifically, the sector is comprised of six segments: publishing industries (except internet), motion picture and sound recording industries, broadcasting (except internet), telecommunications, data processing/hosting, and other information services.

Employment in the U.S. information sector

As a whole, the sector employs nearly three million people around the United States and accounts for a significant portion of the country’s entertainment industry. As unemployment has fallen, average hourly earnings within the sector have also risen sharply within the past decade, now amounting to almost 45 dollars per hour. Paradoxically, this trend towards more favorable employment conditions comes at a time when union membership within the sector rose to 10 percent in 2021.