Number of Legal Jobs Steadily Declining, Federal Stats Show

The number of legal jobs is steadily declining, according to new employment figures from the U.S. Department of Labor.

The law sector saw jobs shrink by 2,000 in September -- the fifth consecutive month of losses.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the legal workforce of 1,165,100 is down by 1.15 percent from one year ago, when the industry employed 1,178,600 people.

The drop-off is even steeper since May 2007, when legal employment peaked at 1,180,700.

The legal industry is hardly the only sector that saw the number of jobs decrease in the past month. The accounting and bookkeeping industry fell by 1,300 jobs, and the architecture and engineering industry dropped by 3,300 jobs, among other industry losses.

Despite those declines, the professional and technical services job category, of which law is included, saw an overall increase of more than 12,000 jobs. The increase was primarily due to job growth in computer systems design and management and technical consulting services.