Literature forecasts

Writers and authors employment, BLS projection to 2034

140,300 (2034) → 129,100 (2012) → 136,500 (2014) → 131,200 (2016) → 123,200 (2018) → 131,200 (2019) → 143,200 (2020) → 142,800 (2021) → 151,200 (2022) → 150,700 (2023) → 135,400 (2024)

BLS notes many writers and authors are self-employed; the occupation covers all written media, not only books. Jobs (number of workers). History joins the base-year employment shown in successive Occupational Outlook Handbook editions (read from Internet Archive copies of bls.gov); each edition re-estimates the base, so jumps between years can reflect method and classification changes, not only real change. The projection is BLS's 2034 figure, a single point; no intermediate years are published. This is workforce size, not industry revenue.

• BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, Writers and authors (Employment Projections table, archived copy) “Writers and authors 27-3043 135,400 140,300 4 4,900”
• BLS OOH Writers and authors, edition showing 2012 base-year employment (Internet Archive copy) “Number of Jobs, 2012 129,100”
• BLS OOH Writers and authors, edition showing 2014 base-year employment (Internet Archive copy) “Number of Jobs, 2014 136,500”
• BLS OOH Writers and authors, edition showing 2016 base-year employment (Internet Archive copy) “Number of Jobs, 2016 131,200”
• BLS OOH Writers and authors, edition showing 2018 base-year employment (Internet Archive copy) “Number of Jobs, 2018 123,200”
• BLS OOH Writers and authors, edition showing 2019 base-year employment (Internet Archive copy) “Number of Jobs, 2019 131,200”
• BLS OOH Writers and authors, edition showing 2020 base-year employment (Internet Archive copy) “Number of Jobs, 2020 143,200”
• BLS OOH Writers and authors, edition showing 2021 base-year employment (Internet Archive copy) “Number of Jobs, 2021 142,800”
• BLS OOH Writers and authors, edition showing 2022 base-year employment (Internet Archive copy) “Number of Jobs, 2022 151,200”
• BLS OOH Writers and authors, edition showing 2023 base-year employment (Internet Archive copy) “Number of Jobs, 2023 150,700”
• BLS OOH Writers and authors, edition showing 2024 base-year employment (Internet Archive copy) “Number of Jobs, 2024 135,400”