Industry comparison

Information 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

Information and Manufacturing (metal/machinery/electronics) are two major H-1B sponsoring sectors in the United States. Information leads with 11,007 employers sponsoring 624,447 H-1B filings, while Manufacturing (metal/machinery/electronics) sponsors slightly more petitions at 657,405 filings across 12,667 employers.

Manufacturing edges Information on total petition volume by roughly 33,000 filings, reflecting the sector's broader labor footprint and capital-intensive operations. Information, however, sponsors a higher proportion of filings per employer (57 filings per employer vs 52 for Manufacturing), suggesting that major tech and software firms concentrate sponsorship activity among a smaller set of large players.

Both sectors rely heavily on H-1B sponsorship for specialized roles—software engineers, data scientists, and IT architects in Information; engineers, machinists, and technicians in Manufacturing. The data reflects sustained demand for skilled foreign workers across both industries.

Information vs Manufacturing H-1B
H-1B filings comparison
H-1B sponsorship by sector
Manufacturing H-1B filings
Information sector H-1B
NAICS sector H-1B comparison

Sector A

Information

NAICS 51Rank #3

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	Information	Manufacturing (metal/machinery/electronics)
Total filings	624,447	657,405▲
National share %	6.69%	7.04%▲
Distinct sponsors	11,007	12,667▲
Filings / employer	57	52
Rank	#3	#2▲
Top sponsor	Microsoft Corporation	Apple Inc.
Top occupation	Software Developers	Software Developers

Filings by fiscal year

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

Information

Time series
Period	Value
FY2010	18,990
FY2011	20,340
FY2012	21,781
FY2013	21,714
FY2014	24,089
FY2015	27,468
FY2016	30,224
FY2017	32,458
FY2018	37,065
FY2019	39,766
FY2020	40,038
FY2021	70,034
FY2022	60,549
FY2023	54,770
FY2024	49,619
FY2025	55,080
FY2026	20,462

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	20,827