The numbers are in, and they aren’t too encouraging.
According to a report released today by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. legal services sector shed 2,400 jobs in January, even though the economy as a whole added 157,000 jobs last month.
The bureau did adjust its preliminary estimate for legal services jobs added in December 2012 to 1,900 from its previous estimate of 1,000, but even with the change, the legal services sector still lost 500 jobs since November 2012.
As of January, 1.125 million people had jobs in the legal industry. The number is consistent with the number of people employed in the legal industry throughout 2012.
The bureau’s report comes after Wells Fargo Private Bank reported in November that 15 percent of law firms planned on reducing their number of partners in the first quarter of 2013.
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