The US legal workforce contracted for a second consecutive quarter in Q1, starting off the year with falling employment totals and climbing unemployment rates—reflecting a cooling field in an otherwise hot job market.
Overall legal employment fell from 1.88 million in Q4 2023 to 1.76 million in Q1 2024, the lowest level since Q1 2017 (1.73 million). Additionally, average employment levels fell by 12% for men (from 913,000 to 805,000) and 1% for women (from 966,000 to 955,000).
Employment levels fell from the fourth to first quarter for lawyers (from 1.21 million to 1.11 million), legal support workers (from 61,000 ...
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