This graph shows the rates of change in employment levels for the PR industry, advertising agencies, and the overall economy. For purpose of display, each sector was assumed to be the same size in 1990 (which is obviously not the case in real life), and the tracings which ensue reflect the actual growth rates. The squiggly lines are based on monthly data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics; the solid lines represent each series' average performance over the past 17 years.

By a substantial margin, employment in PR has outgrown employment in the total economy, which, in turn, has outgrown ad agency employment. This is true despite the Internet Bubble, which burst in late 2000, and is the most obvious feature on this graph. This study is particularly interesting because advertising and PR are especially labor-intensive industries, so employment levels, and changes in these levels, give good indications of the vigor of these sectors.— Alan Gottesman, managing director, West End Communications/Consulting