Industry comparison

Professional, Scientific & Technical Services vs Manufacturing (paper/chemicals)

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

Summary

Manufacturing (Paper/Chemicals) and Professional, Scientific & Technical Services represent opposite ends of the H-1B sponsorship spectrum. Professional Services leads dramatically: 5.4 million filings across 57,468 employers, compared to Manufacturing's 119,027 filings from 4,712 employers. This roughly 45-fold difference reflects the concentration of H-1B visa use in tech, consulting, and engineering services.

Manufacturing (paper and chemicals) sectors file far fewer H-1B applications despite maintaining a substantial employer base of nearly 4,700 companies. The sector focuses on specialized technical and skilled trades, but represents a minor share of total H-1B sponsorship activity. Professional Services, by contrast, concentrates H-1B hiring among a larger network of firms, indicating broader visa demand across consulting, IT, and scientific roles.

For job seekers and employers, the comparison illustrates that H-1B sponsorship is heavily weighted toward service industries over traditional manufacturing.

Manufacturing vs Professional Services H-1B
H-1B filings by sector
Professional Services H-1B sponsorship
Manufacturing H-1B employers
NAICS sector comparison H-1B

Sector A

Professional, Scientific & Technical Services

NAICS 54Rank #1

Sector B

Manufacturing (paper/chemicals)

NAICS 32Rank #8

Key metrics

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

Metric	Professional, Scientific & Technical Services	Manufacturing (paper/chemicals)
Total filings	5,362,182▲	119,027
National share %	57.46%▲	1.28%
Distinct sponsors	57,468▲	4,712
Filings / employer	93	25
Rank	#1▲	#8
Top sponsor	INFOSYS LIMITED	Bristol-Myers Squibb Company
Top occupation	Software Developers	Software Developers

Filings by fiscal year

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

Professional, Scientific & Technical Services

Time series
Period	Value
FY2010	162,393
FY2011	184,930
FY2012	237,548
FY2013	270,996
FY2014	334,578
FY2015	420,866
FY2016	442,248
FY2017	408,878
FY2018	415,563
FY2019	418,841
FY2020	341,992
FY2021	433,810
FY2022	318,868
FY2023	324,927
FY2024	279,362
FY2025	273,304
FY2026	93,078

Manufacturing (paper/chemicals)

Time series
Period	Value
FY2010	4,986
FY2011	5,266
FY2012	5,421
FY2013	5,098
FY2014	5,815
FY2015	6,136
FY2016	6,406
FY2017	7,243
FY2018	7,664
FY2019	8,270
FY2020	7,489
FY2021	12,502
FY2022	8,500
FY2023	8,497
FY2024	7,756
FY2025	9,221
FY2026	2,757