US Advertising Industry Statistics: oesm24nat.zip Is Now oesm25nat.zip

oesm24nat.zip is the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) file of national Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) for May 2024. It has been replaced by oesm25nat.zip, the May 2025 national file, which BLS lists first on its OEWS tables page. Both stay downloadable at https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/. This page gives you the exact links, what is inside each zip, the SOC codes that cover advertising work, the May 2025 numbers already pulled out, and the Census and industry data you usually need next.

oesm24nat.zip and oesm25nat.zip: links, contents and status

BLS keeps every year’s national file on the same path, with the year in the file name. The table shows what we found when we downloaded and opened both files on November 1, 2026.

The OEWS tables page was last modified May 15, 2026, and the oldest Internet Archive copy of oesm25nat.zip is dated May 16, 2026. Each zip opens to a folder with the data sheet plus a “Field Descriptions” sheet.

Why an old oesm link breaks

• Dot instead of hyphen. Older links and scripts used /oes/special.requests/ with a dot. The Internet Archive shows files served from that dotted path from 2020 to 2021, for example oesm18nat.zip. Current links use special-requests with a hyphen. If https://www.bls.gov/oes/special.requests/oesm24nat.zip fails, change the dot to a hyphen.
• Scripted downloads get a 403. When we ran a scripted request for oesm25nat.zip on November 1, 2026, bls.gov returned HTTP 403 (forbidden). Downloading in a normal browser is the reliable route. If you must script it, the Internet Archive keeps dated copies of each file, like the one linked above.
• Wrong year. “oesm24” means May 2024 data. If you want the latest wages, you want oesm25nat.zip.

BLS OEWS data files for advertising jobs

Advertising work is spread across five SOC (Standard Occupational Classification) codes. Filter the OCC_CODE column for these and you have the core of US advertising employment and pay. All figures below come straight from national_M2025_dl.xlsx (May 2025) and national_M2024_dl.xlsx (May 2024), all industries, wage and salary workers only.

Source: BLS OEWS May 2025 national file and May 2024 national file. Median change is our arithmetic. These are two separate survey estimates, so small moves can be noise: the EMP_PRSE column puts the relative standard error of the advertising and promotions manager employment count at 3.9%, versus 0.8% for marketing managers.

Three things stand out. Advertising and promotions managers are a small, well-paid group: 21,470 jobs at a $133,660 median, or $64.26 an hour. Marketing managers outnumber them about 18 to 1. And advertising sales agents are the only one of the five that lost jobs between the two files, falling from 97,470 to 91,700. Our advertising manager job guide breaks the $133,660 figure down by percentile and metro using the same May 2025 files.

Columns you need in national_M2025_dl.xlsx

• OCC_CODE and OCC_TITLE: the SOC code and name.
• O_GROUP: keep “detailed” rows. Some occupations appear twice (as “broad” and “detailed”), so filtering prevents double counting.
• TOT_EMP: employment rounded to the nearest 10, excluding the self-employed.
• A_MEDIAN, A_MEAN, A_PCT10 to A_PCT90: annual wages. H_MEDIAN and the other H_ columns are hourly.
• Symbols: * means a wage is not available, ** means employment is not available, and # means the wage is at or above $115.00 an hour or $239,200 a year (top-coded). Replace these before you do math.

Pull the advertising rows in five lines of Python

import pandas as pd
df = pd.read_excel("oesm25nat/national_M2025_dl.xlsx")  # needs openpyxl installed
codes = ["11-2011", "11-2021", "13-1161", "41-3011", "27-3031"]
ad = df[df["OCC_CODE"].isin(codes) & (df["O_GROUP"] == "detailed")]
print(ad[["OCC_CODE", "OCC_TITLE", "TOT_EMP", "A_MEDIAN", "A_MEAN"]])

Swap oesm25nat for oesm24nat and M2025 for M2024 to run the same filter on the older file. In Excel, the equivalent is an AutoFilter on OCC_CODE with those five values checked.

Who actually works inside ad agencies (NAICS 541800, May 2025)

The national file covers every employer. To see the staff of agencies themselves, open nat4d_M2025_dl.xlsx inside oesm25in4.zip and filter NAICS for 541800 (Advertising, Public Relations, and Related Services). OEWS counts 481,600 jobs in the industry in May 2025, with a mean wage of $92,910 and a median of $73,830. In May 2024 the same table showed 490,930 jobs.

Source: BLS OEWS May 2025, national industry-specific file, NAICS 541800. The last column is our division of the industry count by the all-industry count in the national file.

The practical reading: 58% of advertising and promotions managers and 95% of market research analysts and marketing specialists work outside agencies, in brands, retailers, publishers and other employers. If you benchmark an in-house hire, use the national row. If you benchmark agency staff, use the 541800 row. The 13-1161 median of $78,760 is the one our PPC management cost guide uses to compare an in-house specialist against agency fees.

Advertising job outlook, 2025 to 2035

BLS released new Employment Projections for 2025 to 2035 on August 27, 2026 (USDL-26-1422). Total US employment is projected to grow 3.5%. The table below comes from BLS Table 1.2. Unlike OEWS, these job counts include the self-employed, so they run higher.

Note the 35.1% self-employed share for advertising and promotions managers. It explains why BLS projections count 33,200 of them while OEWS, which excludes the self-employed, counts 21,470. The 2024 to 2034 projections the old version of this page quoted are now superseded.

US advertising industry size: every official count for NAICS 5418

Five federal programs measure the advertising, public relations and related services industry (NAICS 5418). They count different things, so the totals do not match. Use the one that fits your question and cite it with its year.

Why the counts disagree

• Establishments: 79,336 or 38,864? QCEW counts every reporting unit on state unemployment-insurance files. County Business Patterns counts establishments on the Census Business Register. The frames differ and Census does not publish a reconciliation, so pick one and stay with it. Use QCEW for the newest year (2025). Use CBP when you need size classes or county detail.
• Revenue: $150 billion or $226 billion? AIES and the Economic Census tabulate establishments. The Quarterly Services Survey estimates revenue for employer firms. The two series are built differently, so do not add or compare them. For an annual industry size, quote AIES 2024 ($149.87 billion). For the latest trend, quote QSS.
• Solo operators. None of the employer counts include the 221,163 nonemployer businesses in NAICS 5418, which averaged about $62,000 in receipts each in 2024 (our division of Census totals).

Industry structure by segment

Sources: BLS QCEW 2025 annual averages (private ownership, one CSV per NAICS code) and Census AIES 2024. QCEW segment rows do not sum exactly to the 5418 total.

Ratios worth knowing, all our arithmetic from the Census files above:

• Revenue per employee: $315,700 for the industry in 2024 (AIES). Media buying agencies run the highest at about $494,400, advertising agencies about $337,800, PR agencies about $280,800.
• Payroll as a share of revenue: 29.7% for the industry (2024 AIES payroll of $44.56 billion against $149.87 billion revenue).
• Small shops dominate: 26,709 of 38,864 establishments (68.7%) had fewer than five employees in CBP 2023. Only 20 had 1,000 or more.
• Revenue growth: AIES 2024 revenue ($149.87 billion) is 11.2% above the 2022 Economic Census ($134.76 billion). These are different surveys, so treat the gap as directional, not as a measured growth rate.

Quarterly revenue, latest release

The Census Quarterly Services Survey released September 9, 2026 shows NAICS 5418 revenue of $58,983 million in Q2 2026, seasonally adjusted. That is up 5.1% from Q1 2026 ($56,100 million, revised) and 5.7% from Q2 2025. Not seasonally adjusted, first-half 2026 revenue was $110,392 million, 4.6% above first-half 2025. The next release is scheduled for November 19, 2026.

US ad spend totals: what IAB/PwC and WPP Media report

Ad spend is a different measure from agency revenue. It is the money advertisers pay media sellers, much of which never touches an agency’s books. These are the named, dated totals you can cite.

IAB format rows overlap, so they add up to more than the total. Programmatic in particular is a way of buying, not a channel, as our programmatic advertising statistics explain with the full IAB tables. For how search, social and display compare on price, see our guide to internet advertising channels and pricing models. The $78 billion video line includes connected TV, which our connected TV advertising statistics split out. For print and newspaper ad revenue from the Census side, see news media advertising statistics.

Magna and GroupM. GroupM’s website now redirects to WPP Media, which publishes the This Year Next Year forecasts, so the rows above carry the WPP Media name. For Magna, the newest forecast post we could find on magnaglobal.com is dated September 16, 2024, and we could not fetch a newer Magna release from Magna itself. So we do not quote a Magna figure here.

Do not compare ad spend with industry revenue. IAB’s $294.6 billion counts what sellers like Google, Meta and publishers earned from internet ads. The Census $149.87 billion counts what agencies and other NAICS 5418 businesses earned for their services. Most digital ad dollars flow straight from advertisers to platforms without passing through an agency’s revenue line.

Which number to quote: a source picker

Most mistakes with these data come from using the right number for the wrong question. Match your question to the row.

If you are using these numbers to size a marketing hire, an agency retainer or a budget and want a second set of eyes on the assumptions, you can book a consultation.

Frequently asked questions

What is oesm24nat.zip?

oesm24nat.zip is the Bureau of Labor Statistics download of national Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics for May 2024. It holds one Excel workbook, national_M2024_dl.xlsx, with 1,402 rows of employment and wage estimates for every occupation, from the all-occupations total down to 831 detailed SOC codes, plus a sheet that defines the 32 columns.

Where can I download oesm24nat.zip?

The file is at https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm24nat.zip and is still listed on the BLS OEWS tables page. Download it in a normal browser, because scripted requests to bls.gov often get an HTTP 403 error. The Internet Archive also holds dated copies of the file if the BLS server blocks you.

Is there a newer file than oesm24nat.zip?

Yes. oesm25nat.zip holds the May 2025 national estimates and is the current file. It sits on the same path, https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip, and contains national_M2025_dl.xlsx with 1,401 rows and the same 32 columns, so scripts written for the May 2024 file work after you change the year in the file names.

Why does https://www.bls.gov/oes/special.requests/oesm24nat.zip not work?

That link uses special.requests with a dot, a path format from older BLS links. Current OEWS downloads use special-requests with a hyphen. Change the dot to a hyphen and the link resolves to the same file. If it still fails, the likely cause is the 403 block bls.gov applies to many automated downloads.

What is the median salary for advertising and promotions managers in the OEWS data?

In the May 2025 national file, advertising and promotions managers (SOC 11-2011) had a median annual wage of $133,660, or $64.26 an hour, with 21,470 wage and salary jobs. The May 2024 file showed a $126,960 median. Marketing managers (11-2021) earned a $166,790 median in May 2025.

How big is the US advertising industry?

The Census Bureau's Annual Integrated Economic Survey puts 2024 revenue for advertising, public relations and related services (NAICS 5418) at $149.87 billion, with 474,764 employees and $44.56 billion in payroll. BLS QCEW counted 79,336 establishments and 478,109 jobs in 2025. Separately, IAB/PwC put 2025 US internet ad revenue at $294.6 billion.