Industry comparison

Finance & Insurance vs Manufacturing (metal/machinery/electronics)

NAICS-sector comparison built from the H1B Report corpus. Filing volume, distinct sponsor count, sponsor concentration and dominant occupations.

Summary

Finance & Insurance and Manufacturing (metal/machinery/electronics) are two major H-1B sponsoring sectors with distinct hiring profiles. Manufacturing leads on total filings with 657,405 cases across 12,667 employers, while Finance & Insurance follows with 588,317 filings from 9,250 employers. Manufacturing's higher volume reflects demand for specialized engineers, technicians, and technical roles in metals, machinery, and electronics production.

Finance & Insurance sponsors H-1B workers across a smaller but more concentrated employer base, indicating larger average sponsorship per firm. The sector draws talent for roles in financial analysis, software development, and specialized financial services. Manufacturing's larger employer count (12,667 vs 9,250) and higher filing volume suggest broader geographic distribution and sustained demand across more mid-sized and regional operations.

Both sectors remain core to the U.S. H-1B program, with Manufacturing slightly outpacing Finance on absolute filings while Finance maintains deeper concentration among its sponsor base.

Finance vs Manufacturing H-1B
H-1B sector comparison
Manufacturing H-1B filings
Finance H-1B sponsorship
NAICS sector H-1B trends

Sector A

Finance & Insurance

NAICS 52Rank #5

Sector B

Manufacturing (metal/machinery/electronics)

NAICS 33Rank #2

Key metrics

Filings / employer is a concentration hint — higher means a few sponsors do most of the filing.

Metric	Finance & Insurance	Manufacturing (metal/machinery/electronics)
Total filings	608,260	680,015▲
National share %	6.36%	7.11%▲
Distinct sponsors	10,091	13,769▲
Filings / employer	60	49
Rank	#5	#2▲
Top sponsor	GOLDMAN SACHS & CO. LLC	Apple Inc.
Top occupation	Software Developers	Software Developers

Filings by fiscal year

Year-over-year H-1B demand within each sector.

Finance & Insurance

Time series
Period	Value
FY2010	18,669
FY2011	18,090
FY2012	18,557
FY2013	19,216
FY2014	22,794
FY2015	27,044
FY2016	28,760
FY2017	32,036
FY2018	38,729
FY2019	39,814
FY2020	39,659
FY2021	69,522
FY2022	51,485
FY2023	51,662
FY2024	42,693
FY2025	50,637
FY2026	38,893

Manufacturing (metal/machinery/electronics)

Time series
Period	Value
FY2010	24,379
FY2011	28,553
FY2012	29,695
FY2013	29,093
FY2014	32,346
FY2015	32,605
FY2016	33,183
FY2017	35,036
FY2018	37,966
FY2019	38,898
FY2020	37,942
FY2021	69,187
FY2022	52,902
FY2023	54,392
FY2024	46,170
FY2025	54,231
FY2026	43,437