INDUSTRY REPORT: Translation and Interpretation Services « EMSI | Economic Modeling Specialists Intl.

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This is part of a series reviewing industries that have experienced greater than 40% employment growth since 2007. Click here to see the summary. Data and analysis comes from Analyst and EMSI’s latest data release (2011.4). Contact Rob Sentz (rob@economicmodeling.com) with questions. You can also follow EMSI @DesktopEcon.

Since 2007, a time when most of the economy was taking a severe beating, translation and interpretation services have grown by about 50%. According to NAICS this industry (541930), “comprises establishments primarily engaged in translating written material and interpreting speech from one language to another and establishments primarily engaged in providing sign language services.”

Here is an overview:

In the U.S. there are currently 3,000 establishments, or places of work, that provide translation services. From 2007-2011, the industry created over 7,000 new jobs and now has nearly 22,000 estimated jobs. Over 60% of the people employed in this sector are female and more than 50% are younger workers — between the ages of 25 and 44.

Below is a closer look at some of the top occupations in the translation industry.

• One in five in the the workforce (over 4,000) are employed as interviewers.
• Survey and market researchers make up another 12% of the industry.
• Interpreters and translators compose over 5% of the industry.
• Customer service also plays an important role in this industry. It is increasingly common to see customer service reps as key parts of industry staffing patterns.

Now, here is a look at where translation services are concentrated.

State Name	2007 Jobs	2011 Jobs	% Change	2011 Avg. Annual Wage	2007 National Location Quotient
Total	14606	21742	0.49	55170
California	2,849	4,330	52%	$62,342	1.69
New York	1,434	1,778	24%	$59,306	1.57
Texas	1,177	1,776	51%	$50,536	1.07
Virginia	538	1,312	144%	$104,008	1.32
Florida	621	1,084	75%	$43,778	0.73
Colorado	426	710	67%	$41,023	1.71
North Carolina	384	707	84%	$74,344	0.86
Maryland	656	676	3%	$57,521	2.36
Oregon	409	634	55%	$42,882	2.21
Ohio	337	628	86%	$49,014	0.59
Illinois	342	611	79%	$45,647	0.54
Arizona	310	598	93%	$40,559	1.09
Georgia	375	586	56%	$53,515	0.84
Washington	453	559	23%	$37,706	1.42
Massachusetts	490	542	11%	$74,783	1.42
Pennsylvania	343	517	51%	$45,395	0.56
Minnesota	352	489	39%	$38,746	1.21
Wisconsin	542	477	(12%)	$25,271	1.80
Utah	132	422	220%	$39,631	1.00
Michigan	327	359	10%	$48,349	0.73
New Jersey	183	290	58%	$50,820	0.43
Missouri	231	254	10%	$37,444	0.78
Tennessee	152	244	61%	$40,591	0.52
Louisiana	145	233	61%	$82,543	0.71
New Mexico	228	230	1%	$23,484	2.54
Indiana	144	222	54%	$36,088	0.46
Kansas	101	200	98%	$41,497	0.67
Connecticut	126	160	27%	$57,890	0.70
Nevada	55	132	140%	$70,876	0.40
District of Columbia	148	109	(26%)	$63,462	2.00
Nebraska	54	108	100%	$53,164	0.54
Kentucky	99	101	2%	$31,614	0.50
South Carolina	48	97	102%	$40,176	0.23
Maine	56	94	68%	$38,592	0.86
Idaho	42	86	105%	$61,974	0.58
Iowa	59	59	0%	$35,941	0.37
Arkansas	50	55	10%	$33,422	0.39
Hawaii	34	49	44%	$57,888	0.47
Alabama	28	48	71%	$44,808	0.13
New Hampshire	27	45	67%	$33,780	0.40
South Dakota	18	35	94%	$36,822	0.43
Rhode Island	25	33	32%	$39,396	0.48
Oklahoma	27	22	(19%)	$41,177	0.16
West Virginia	17	20	18%	$38,993	0.22
Mississippi	11	19	73%	$51,039	0.09

•  When it comes to translation services, California is the clear leader. There are currently 4,330 employed, and 1,500 jobs have been created since 2007, which amounts to 52% growth. In addition, California has a higher per capita concentration (1.69 LQ) of translation services as compared to the average state (1.00 LQ).
•  If we consider pure employment, New York, Texas, Virginia, and Florida are the next states on the list. Translation services employ over 1,000 in each state. Virginia grew by 144% since 2007 and has a very high industry earning figure (over $100,000 per year). This is likely related to its proximity to the nation’s capital.
• With location quotients above 2.0, Maryland and Oregon have the highest concentration in translation services.
• Utah has had the fastest percent growth (220% since 2007.

Conclusion

It is always refreshing to see an industry that is thriving, especially during hard times. For more on why this industry is growing, check out this 2009 article from Inc. Magazine.

Welcome to the world of translation services and localization — a multibillion-dollar global market, where companies help bridge the communication gap between clients, businesses and individuals. Many of the high-growth companies on our Inc. 500|5000 list have thrived in this niche area that offers a suite of services from document translation to website localization to multilingual court reporting to oral interpretation.

These companies help bridge the communication gap between clients and businesses worldwide. They understood early on that in a global economy, clear, concise, communication is everything.

Contact us if you have any questions or comments.

1:18 pm on March 21st, 2012
Categories: Data & Analysis, Industries.
Tags: translation services.