Utilities

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Workforce

549k

2019 BLS Estimate

Average Employee Age

44.5

Estimated Job Growth

−7.7%

10-Year Projection

Average Salary

$82,171

Average Male Salary

$85,968

Average Female Salary

$82,521

About

The top three occupations in the Utilities Industry Group are Electrical powerline installers & repairers, Water & wastewater treatment plant & system operators, Other managers, Firstline supervisors of production & operating workers, and Electricians. On average, full-time employees in the Utilities Industry Sub-Sector work 43.7 hours per week and have an average annual salary of $84,331. Part-time employees in the same industry work 19.6 hours and earn an average annual salary of $28,581.

The locations with the highest concentration of employees in the Utilities Industry Sub-Sector are Oswego County PUMA, NY, Eastern Plains Region PUMA, CO, and Soddy-Daisy City PUMA, TN. The industry that purchases the most products or services from the Hospitals Industry Group is Utilities.

Photo by Kevin Dooley

Transportation & Warehousing, and Utilities

Workforce

A snapshot of jobs, wages, and opportunities in the Utilities Industry Sub-Sector. Electrical powerline installers & repairers are the most common position, but the Utilities Industry Sub-Sector employs a relatively high number of Power plant operators, distributors, & dispatchers, compared to other industries.

The highest average salary in Utilities goes to Lawyers, & judges, magistrates, & other judicial workers.

Monthly Employment

Start Year

Y-Axis

−0.295%

Year-over-year decline

Employment change between May 2020 and May 2021

As of May 2021, there are 508k people employed in the Utilities industry. This represents a −0.295% decrease in employment when compared to May 2020.

This chart shows monthly employment numbers for Utilities over time (non-seasonally adjusted).

Occupations

Occupations by Share

549k

Workforce (BLS Estimate)

ACS Estimate: 1.26M

0.841%

1 Year Growth

± 3.06%

The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that there were 549k people employed in the Utilities Industry Sub-Sector in 2019.

According to ACS estimates, the number of people employed in the Utilities Industry Sub-Sector has been growing at a rate of 0.841%, , from 1.25M people in 2018 to 1.26M people in 2019.

The following graphic shows the share of employment in Utilities by various occupations according to ACS estimates. Electrical powerline installers & repairers represent the largest share of positions held in Utilities at 7.15%, followed by Water & wastewater treatment plant & system operators with 6.37% and Other managers with 5.76%.

Wages

Average Salary

$82,171

AVERAGE WAGE

± $1,341

On average, employees in the Utilities Industry Sub-Sector make $82,171 per year. This number makes Utilities the 5 highest paying Industry Sub-Sector in the United States out of a total of 21 Industry Sub-Sectors.

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 Utilities Industry Sub-Sector.

Wage Distribution

0.342

WAGE GINI

Utilities has a wage GINI of 0.342, which is less than than the national average of 0.478. In other words, wages are distributed more evenly in Utilities (shown in red) in comparison to the national average for those wage buckets (shown in gray).

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 Utilities Industry Sub-Sector.

These are locations that employ more people in the Utilities Industry Sub-Sector than expected given both the size of that location's overall labor pool and the national size of the Utilities Industry Sub-Sector.

Diversity

Demographic information on the Utilities Industry Sub-Sector in the US. Male employees tend to earn more than Female employees, with average respective salaries of $85,968 and $82,521. So too tend to earn more than other races and ethnicities in this industry.

Composition by Sex

298k

FEMALE WORKFORCE

±13.4k

959k

MALE WORKFORCE

±24k

76.3% of workers in the Utilities Industry Sub-Sector are Male, making them the more common sex in the workforce. This chart shows the sex breakdown of the Utilities Industry Sub-Sector.

Wage by Sex in Common Jobs

$85,968

AVERAGE MALE SALARY

±$1,569

$82,521

AVERAGE FEMALE SALARY

±$1,439

On average, Male workers in the Utilities Industry Sub-Sector make 1.04 times more than their Female counterparts. This chart shows the sex-based wage disparity in the 5 most common occupations in the Utilities Industry Sub-Sector.

Wage by Race & Ethnicity in Common Jobs

RACE OR ETHNICITY WITH THE HIGHEST AVERAGE SALARY

Asian
White
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander

On average, Asian employees in the Utilities Industry Sub-Sector earn 1.17 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 Utilities Industry Sub-Sector.

Input/Output

Estimates of the sources of the costs and the purchasers of the products in the Utilities Industry Sub-Sector. 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 Utilities Industry Sub-Sector, and the largest industry purchasing services from the Utilities Industry Sub-Sector is Manufacturing.

In this flow diagram, 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 Utilities is from Transportation & Warehousing, and Utilities.

Intermediate Inputs

The closest comparable data for Utilities is from Transportation & Warehousing, and Utilities.

HIGHEST INPUT INDUSTRY

The Utilities Industry Sub-Sector 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.

Use of Output by Other Industries

The closest comparable data for Utilities is from Transportation & Warehousing, and Utilities.

LARGEST PURCHASING INDUSTRY

The Manufacturing Industry purchases the greatest share of products and services from the Utilities Industry Sub-Sector in order to produce other goods and services. Purchases of the Utilities Industry Sub-Sector for final consumption by consumers, businesses, or government are not included here.

Projections

Growth projections of the Utilities industry, both by number of employees and output, from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics. The national workforce is projected to grow 7.66% in the next ten years. The Utilities industry has a lower projected workforce growth at −7.7%. Its projected 10-year growth in output (16.6%) is lower than the projected national growth in output (24.2%).

Job Growth

−7.7%

Estimated Job Growth

10-year Projection

7.66%

National Growth

10-year Projection

This line chart shows the projected 10-year growth in the number of jobs for Utilities. This industry is expected to grow less than than 7.66%, the average rate of national job growth.

Output Growth

16.6%

Estimate Growth

10-year Projection

This line chart shows the projected 10-year growth in output of the Utilities industry.

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