# US advertising and public relations employment peaked at 503,200 in February 2023 and fell every year after, reaching 476,000 in August 2026

Page: https://flyvolo.ai/en/changes/ev-20260801-marketing-specialist-3
Date: 2026-08-01 · Stage: Labour impact
Can this record move a task judgement? yes
Occupation: https://flyvolo.ai/en/careers/marketing-specialist

## Scope

United States payroll employment at agencies — advertising, PR, media buying, display and direct mail in one number. Marketers employed by the brands themselves are counted in their employer's industry and not here, so the long shift of marketing in-house, which began well before these tools, shows up in this line as a fall regardless of anything AI did. The peak is February 2023, three months after ChatGPT, and the decline is gradual rather than a break: 503,200 to 476,000 over three and a half years, about 5%. That is a real contraction and a slow one, and the series cannot say how much of it is tools, how much is in-housing, and how much is advertising budgets. Seasonally adjusted, monthly, in thousands; recent months preliminary.

## Source

- US Bureau of Labor Statistics — Current Employment Statistics, all employees, advertising, public relations and related services (NAICS 5418), series CES6054180001 — https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CES6054180001 (primary source)

## What this means

Agency-side employment turned down three months after ChatGPT and has fallen every year since — about 5% over three and a half years. It is a real contraction, and it is slow: no month looks like a break, which is what a technology shock is usually imagined to look like.

## What it does not show yet

It cannot separate three things that all push the same way: tools, the long move of marketing in-house, and advertising budgets. In-housing is the one to hold on to — a marketer who moves from an agency to the brand disappears from this series and has not lost their job. A fall of about 5% over three and a half years is a slow contraction, and comparing it with any other series needs the same months on both sides.

## How to verify it yourself

Count the job postings on one agency's careers page and one comparable brand's, in the same discipline, and check both again in three months. If the agency shrinks while the brand grows, you are watching in-housing, not replacement.


More: https://flyvolo.ai/llms.txt