The educational services industry was the second largest industry in the economy in 2002, providing jobs for about 12.7 million workers-more than 12.5 million wage and salary workers, and 183,000 self-employed workers. The majority of wage and salary workers are employed in the public sector, because most students attend public educational institutions. According to the latest data from the Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics, more than three-fourths of all elementary, middle, and secondary schools were public schools.
Employees in this industry are older than average; 47 percent are over the age of 45, compared with 38 percent of employees in all industries combined.