Industries at a Glance: Real Estate and Rental and Leasing: NAICS 53

The real estate and rental and leasing sector is part of the financial activities supersector.

The Real Estate and Rental and Leasing sector comprises establishments primarily engaged in renting, leasing, or otherwise allowing the use of tangible or intangible assets, and establishments providing related services. The major portion of this sector comprises establishments that rent, lease, or otherwise allow the use of their own assets by others. The assets may be tangible, as is the case of real estate and equipment, or intangible, as is the case with patents and trademarks.

This sector also includes establishments primarily engaged in managing real estate for others, selling, renting and/or buying real estate for others, and appraising real estate. These activities are closely related to this sector's main activity, and it was felt that from a production basis they would best be included here. In addition, a substantial proportion of property management is self-performed by lessors.

The main components of this sector are the real estate lessors industries (including equity real estate investment trusts (REITs)); equipment lessors industries (including motor vehicles, computers, and consumer goods); and lessors of nonfinancial intangible assets (except copyrighted works).

North American Industry Classification System

NOTE: There was a change in the definition of this subsector between NAICS 2002 and NAICS 2007. Some of the data below reflect the 2002 definition and some reflect the 2007 definition. See the BLS implementation schedule for NAICS 2007 to find out which BLS programs have already implemented NAICS 2007.

This section provides information relating to employment and unemployment in real estate and rental and leasing. While most data are obtained from employer or establishment surveys, information on industry unemployment comes from a national survey of households. The following tables present an overview of the industry including the number of jobs, the unemployment rate of those previously employed in the industry, job openings and labor turnover, union membership and representation, mass layoffs, data for occupations common to the industry, and projections of occupational employment change.

Employment, Unemployment, Layoffs, and Openings, Hires, and Separations

Union Membership and Representation

Extended Mass Layoffs

Employment by Occupation

Projections

Data series	Feb. 2013	Mar. 2013	Apr. 2013	May 2013
Employment (in thousands)
Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)	1,973.7	1,978.9	(P) 1,978.1	(P) 1,982.7
Unemployment
Unemployment rate	7.2%	5.9%	5.6%	4.6%
Layoffs
Mass layoff events	6	8	4
Initial claimants for unemployment benefits	427	674	201
Job openings, hires, and separations (in thousands)
Job openings	65	45	(P) 59
Hires	64	54	(P) 59
Separations	65	46	(P) 51
Footnotes (P) Preliminary

Data series	2009	2010	2011	2012
Union membership and representation
Members of unions (percent of wage and salary workers)	3.0%	4.1%	3.4%	4.1%
Represented by unions (percent of wage and salary workers)	3.6%	4.9%	4.0%	5.0%

Data series	2nd quarter 2012	3rd quarter 2012	4th quarter 2012	1st quarter 2013
Extended mass layoff events	14	3	(P) 15	(P) 4
Separations	2,103	712	(P) 2,381	(P) 648
Initial claimants	2,485	803	(P) 2,579	(P) 645
Footnotes (P) Preliminary

Data series	Employment, 2012
Counter and rental clerks	198,350
Maintenance and repair workers, general
Property, real estate, and community association managers	118,160
Real estate brokers	32,850
Real estate sales agents	136,400

For projected (future) employment estimates, see the National Employment Matrix, which includes employment estimates by industry and occupation for real estate and rental and leasing.

Weekly earnings by union membership status are shown. Recent hourly and annual earnings for occupations commonly found in educational services. This section also contains information on the average cost of benefits paid by employers, as well as recent rates of change in wages and total compensation.

Union Membership and Representation

Earnings by Occupation

Employer Compensation Costs

This section presents data for the industry on the number of workplace fatalities and the rates of workplace injuries and illnesses per 100 full-time workers in real estate and rental and leasing. An injury or illness is considered to be work-related if an event or exposure in the work environment either caused or contributed to the resulting condition or significantly aggravated a pre-existing condition.

This section presents data on the number of establishments in real estate and rental and leasing.

Data series	Back data	Median weekly earnings
Data series	Back data	2009	2010	2011	2012
Union membership and representation
Full-time workers		$726	$702	$736	$731
Members of unions		$842	$786	$836	$773
Represented by unions		$822	$713	$815	$759
Nonunion		$718	$701	$734	$727

Data series	Wages, 2012
	Hourly		Annual
	Median	Mean	Median	Mean
Counter and rental clerks	$11.48	$12.69	$23,870	$26,400
Maintenance and repair workers, general
Property, real estate, and community association managers	$24.06	$29.07	$50,040	$60,460
Real estate brokers	$27.81	$38.50	$57,840	$80,070
Real estate sales agents	$18.02	$24.25	$37,470	$50,440

Data series	2nd quarter 2012	3rd quarter 2012	4th quarter 2012	1st quarter 2013
12-month percent change
Total compensation	2.9%	2.2%	2.0%	1.8%
Wages and salaries	2.4%	1.5%	1.6%	1.4%

Data series	Back data	1st quarter 2013
Data series	Back data	Compensation component ($ per hour worked)	Percent of total compensation
Compensation costs
Total compensation		28.32	100.0
Wages and salaries		20.28	71.6
Total benefits		8.03	28.4
Insurance		2.31	8.2
Retirement		0.67	2.3

Data series	2008	2009	2010	2011
Fatalities
Number of fatalities	84	76	89	63
Rate of injury and illness cases per 100 full-time workers
Total recordable cases	3.1	3.3	2.9	3.0
Cases involving days away from work, job restriction, or transfer	1.8	1.9	1.6	1.7
Cases involving days away from work	1.2	1.2	1.0	1.1
Cases involving days of job transfer or restriction	0.6	0.7	0.6	0.6
Blank cells indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria.

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics