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Manufacturing: NAICS 31-33

About the Manufacturing sector

The manufacturing sector is part of the goods-producing industries supersector group.

The Manufacturing sector comprises establishments engaged in the mechanical, physical, or chemical transformation of materials, substances, or components into new products.

Establishments in the Manufacturing sector are often described as plants, factories, or mills and characteristically use power-driven machines and materials-handling equipment. However, establishments that transform materials or substances into new products by hand or in the worker's home and those engaged in selling to the general public products made on the same premises from which they are sold, such as bakeries, candy stores, and custom tailors, may also be included in this sector. Manufacturing establishments may process materials or may contract with other establishments to process their materials for them. Both types of establishments are included in manufacturing.

North American Industry Classification System

The manufacturing sector consists of these subsectors:

Workforce Statistics

This section provides information relating to employment and unemployment in manufacturing. While most data are obtained from employer or establishment surveys, information on industry unemployment comes from a national survey of households. The following tables present an overview of the industry including the number of jobs, the unemployment rate of those previously employed in the industry, job openings and labor turnover, union membership and representation, gross job gains and losses, data for occupations common to the industry, and projections of occupational employment change.

Employment, Unemployment, and Openings, Hires, and Separations

Data series Back
data
Nov.
2023
Dec.
2023
Jan.
2024
Feb.
2024

Employment (in thousands)

Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)

12,948 12,960 (p)12,968 (p)12,964

Employment, production and nonsupervisory employees (seasonally adjusted)

9,066 9,065 (p)9,079 (p)9,086

Unemployment

Unemployment rate

3.1% 3.0% 3.4% 3.0%

Job openings, hires, and separations (in thousands)

Job openings

549 570 (p)608  

Hires

292 257 (p)408  

Separations

285 289 (p)360  

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics, Current Population Survey, Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey)

Union Membership and Representation

Data series Back
data
2020 2021 2022 2023

Union membership and representation

Members of unions (percent of wage and salary workers)

8.5% 7.7% 7.8% 7.9%

Represented by unions (percent of wage and salary workers)

9.3% 8.5% 8.6% 9.1%

(Source: Current Population Survey)

Dynamic Changes in Employment

Data series Back
data
3rd quarter
2022
4th quarter
2022
1st quarter
2023
2nd quarter
2023

Dynamic changes in employment (in thousands)

Gross job gains

494 470 419 437

Gross job losses

428 418 402 451

(Source: Business Employment Dynamics)

Employment by Occupation

Data series Employment,
2022

Helpers--production workers

131,600

Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers

370,510

Machinists

262,700

Purchasing agents, except wholesale, retail, and farm products

110,710

Team assemblers

1,050,990

(Source: Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics)

Projections

For projected (future) employment estimates, see the National Employment Matrix, which includes employment estimates by industry and occupation for manufacturing.

(Source: Office of Occupational Statistics and Employment Projections)

Earnings and Hours

This section presents data on employee earnings and weekly hours. The latest industry averages of hourly earnings and weekly hours, as well as weekly earnings by union membership status, are shown. In addition, recent hourly and annual earnings are shown for occupations commonly found in manufacturing. This section also contains information on the average cost of benefits paid by employers, as well as recent rates of change in wages and total compensation.

Earnings and Hours of All Employees

Data series Back
data
Nov.
2023
Dec.
2023
Jan.
2024
Feb.
2024

Average hourly earnings

$33.06 $33.23 (p)$33.33 (p)$33.40

Average weekly hours

39.9 39.8 (p)39.8 (p)39.9

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings and Hours of Production and Nonsupervisory Employees

Data series Back
data
Nov.
2023
Dec.
2023
Jan.
2024
Feb.
2024

Average hourly earnings

$26.89 $27.13 (p)$27.18 (p)$27.31

Average weekly hours

40.5 40.3 (p)40.2 (p)40.5

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings by Occupation

Data series Wages, 2022
Hourly Annual
Median Mean Median Mean

Helpers--production workers

$17.15 $17.70 $35,670 $36,820

Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers

$21.59 $22.72 $44,900 $47,260

Machinists

$23.22 $24.44 $48,310 $50,840

Purchasing agents, except wholesale, retail, and farm products

$33.20 $35.66 $69,060 $74,170

Team assemblers

$18.64 $20.32 $38,780 $42,270

(Source: Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics)

Employee Benefits

This section presents data on the incidence (the percentage of workers with access to and participation in employer-provided benefit plans) and provisions of selected employee benefits from the National Compensation Survey. More Benefits estimates are also accessible from the Benefits database, the archived NCS publications page, and the complete Employee Benefits Excel dataset (XLSX).

Data series Access Participation
Back
data
2023 Back
data
2023

Private industry

Retirement benefit plans

83 69

Defined benefit plans

21 15

Defined contribution plans

82 67

(Source: Employee Benefits in the United States)

Data series After 1 year of service After 20 years of service
Back
data
2023 Back
data
2023

Mean number of vacation days for private industry workers without consolidated leave plans

8 18

(Source: Employee Benefits in the United States)

Data series Back
data
2023

Percent of private industry workers with access to employer-sponsored benefits

Health care

91

Paid vacation

96

Paid sick leave

80

(Source: Employee Benefits in the United States)

Employer Compensation Costs

Data series Back
data
1st quarter
2023
2nd quarter
2023
3rd quarter
2023
4th quarter
2023

Private industry

12-month percent change

Total compensation

4.2% 3.9% 3.7% 3.7%

Wages and salaries

4.9% 4.5% 3.9% 3.8%

3-month percent change

Total compensation

1.3% 0.9% 0.6% 0.8%

Wages and salaries

1.4% 1.0% 0.6% 0.8%

(Source: Compensation Cost Trends)

Data series Private industry
Compensation component
($ per hour worked)
Percent of total compensation
Back
data
4th quarter 2023 Back
data
4th quarter 2023

Total compensation

43.68 100.0

Wages and salaries

28.91 66.2

Total benefits

14.76 33.8

Insurance

4.17 9.6

Retirement

1.55 3.5

Paid leave

3.22 7.4

(Source: Compensation Cost Trends)

Union Membership and Representation

Data series Back
data
Median weekly earnings
2020 2021 2022 2023

Union membership and representation

Full-time workers

$1,008 $1,033 $1,102 $1,148

Members of unions

$1,016 $1,016 $1,116 $1,135

Represented by unions

$1,012 $1,015 $1,126 $1,107

Nonunion

$1,008 $1,036 $1,098 $1,153

(Source: Current Population Survey)

Work-related Fatalities, Injuries, and Illnesses

This section presents data for the industry on the number of workplace fatalities and the rates of workplace injuries and illnesses per 100 full-time workers in manufacturing. An injury or illness is considered to be work-related if an event or exposure in the work environment either caused or contributed to the resulting condition or significantly aggravated a pre-existing condition.

Data series 2019 2020 2021 2022

Fatalities

Number of fatalities

336 341 384 405

Blank cells indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria.

Data series 2022

Rate of injury and illness cases per 100 full-time workers

Total recordable cases

3.2

Cases involving days away from work, job restriction, or transfer

2.0

Cases involving days away from work

1.1

Cases involving days of job transfer or restriction

1.0

Blank cells indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria.

(Source: Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities)

Prices

This section provides industry-specific pricing information. The producer price index measures the percentage change in prices that domestic producers receive for goods and services. The prices included in the producer price index are from the first commercial transaction. The import price index reflects the percentage change in prices paid to foreign producers for their goods and services within the U.S., while the export price index measures the percentage change in prices received by U.S. producers for goods and services sold outside the U.S.

Data series Back
data
Nov.
2023
Dec.
2023
Jan.
2024
Feb.
2024

Producer price index

(p)246.518 (p)243.259 (p)244.078 (p)248.720

Percent change from previous month

  (p)-1.0% (p)-1.3% (p)0.3% (p)1.9%

Import index

121.2 121.0 121.8 121.7

Percent change from previous month

  -0.2% -0.2% 0.7% -0.1%

Export index

133.6 (r)132.8 133.1 133.9

Percent change from previous month

  -0.4% (r)-0.6% (r)0.2% 0.6%

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary
(r) Revised

(Source: Producer Price Indexes, International Price Program)

Workplace Trends

This section presents data on the number of establishments and the number of establishments experiencing job gains or job losses in manufacturing. Also included in this section is information on productivity and costs, presented as indexes and changes in output per hour and unit labor costs.

Establishments

Data series Back
data
4th quarter
2022
1st quarter
2023
2nd quarter
2023
3rd quarter
2023

Number of establishments

Private industry

385,522 (p)389,010 (p)391,974 (p)395,674

Local government

40 (p)46 (p)48 (p)48

State government

24 (p)24 (p)24 (p)24

Federal government

70 (p)70 (p)73 (p)78

Establishments with changes in employment (in thousands)

With job gains (seasonally adjusted)

101 98 96  

With job losses (seasonally adjusted)

95 97 99  

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(Source: Business Employment Dynamics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages)

Productivity

Data series Back
data
1st quarter
2023
2nd quarter
2023
3rd quarter
2023
4th quarter
2023

Output per hour index (seasonally adjusted)

(r)97.845 (r)98.714 (r)98.412 (r)98.728

Percent change from previous quarter

(r)-1.6 (r)3.6 (r)-1.2 (r)1.3

Hours index (seasonally adjusted)

(r)101.935 (r)101.309 (r)101.434 (r)100.598

Percent change from previous quarter

(r)1.2 (r)-2.4 0.5 (r)-3.3

Output index (seasonally adjusted)

99.738 100.006 (r)99.824 (r)99.318

Percent change from previous quarter

-0.4 1.1 (r)-0.7 (r)-2.0

Unit labor costs (seasonally adjusted)

(r)124.328 (r)125.520 (r)128.256 (r)129.932

Percent change from previous quarter

(r)6.3 (r)3.9 (r)9.0 (r)5.3

Footnotes
(r) Revised

(Source: Productivity and Costs)

 

Data extracted on: March 15, 2024