Employment

The educational services industry was the second largest industry in the economy in 2006, providing jobs for about 13.3 million workers—about 13.2 million wage and salary workers, and 195,000 self-employed and unpaid family workers. Most jobs are found in elementary and secondary schools, either public or private, as shown in table 1. Public schools employ more workers than private schools because most students attend public educational institutions. According to the latest data from the Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics, close to 90 percent of students attend public primary and secondary schools, and about 75 percent attend public postsecondary institutions.