Software publishers employ a small fraction of software programmers and engineers
The availability of free software platforms may be more important to the economy than some U.S. policy makers acknowledge or appreciate.
Software publishers employ only 4 percent of the BLS defined category for “Computer and Mathematical Occupations,” and just 4.9 percent of occupation code for computer programmers. In the BLS category for “Software Developers, Applications,” just 8.1 percent work in the “Software Publishing” sector. This suggests the role of commercial software applications is only a relatively small element of value added work involving software.
Occupational Employment and Wages, May 2010
| BLS Occupation Code | Software Publishers | Other Employers | Total Employment | Percent working for Software Publishers |
| 15-0000 Computer and Mathematical Occupations (Major Group) | 129940 | 3154010 | 3283950 | 4.0% |
| 15-1131 Computer Programmers | 16420 | 317200 | 333620 | 4.9% |
| 15-1132 Software Developers, Applications | 40300 | 458980 | 499280 | 8.1% |
| 15-1133 Software Developers, Systems Software | 25240 | 353680 | 378920 | 6.7% |
| 15-1111 Computer and Information Research Scientists | 1470 | 23430 | 24900 | 5.9% |
| 15-1121 Computer Systems Analysts | 8330 | 487470 | 495800 | 1.7% |