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Petroleum and Coal Products Manufacturing: NAICS 324

About the Petroleum and Coal Products Manufacturing subsector

The petroleum and coal products manufacturing subsector is part of the manufacturing sector.

The Petroleum and Coal Products Manufacturing subsector is based on the transformation of crude petroleum and coal into usable products. The dominant process is petroleum refining that involves the separation of crude petroleum into component products through such techniques as cracking and distillation.

In addition, this subsector includes establishments that primarily further process refined petroleum and coal products and produce products, such as asphalt coatings and petroleum lubricating oils.

North American Industry Classification System

The petroleum and coal products manufacturing subsector consists of a single industry group, Petroleum and Coal Products Manufacturing: NAICS 3241.

Workforce Statistics

This section provides information relating to employment and unemployment in petroleum and coal products 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, data for occupations common to the industry, and projections of occupational employment change.

Employment and Unemployment

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

Employment (in thousands)

Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)

109.0 109.2 (p)110.5 (p)111.1

Unemployment

Unemployment rate

9.9% 9.9% 3.8% 0.0%

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics, Current Population Survey

Employment by Occupation

Data series Employment,
2022

First-line supervisors/managers of production and operating workers

5,440

Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders

5,580

Petroleum pump system operators, refinery operators, and gaugers

14,390

Truck drivers, heavy and tractor-trailer

3,170

(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 petroleum and coal products manufacturing.

(Source: Office of Occupational Statistics and Employment Projections)

Wages

This section presents data on hourly and annual wages for occupations commonly found in petroleum and coal products manufacturing.

Wages by Occupation

Data series Wages, 2022
Hourly Annual
Median Mean Median Mean

First-line supervisors/managers of production and operating workers

$50.68 $53.10 $105,410 $110,440

Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders

$23.84 $25.24 $49,580 $52,510

Petroleum pump system operators, refinery operators, and gaugers

$45.51 $43.46 $94,660 $90,390

Truck drivers, heavy and tractor-trailer

$23.16 $24.73 $48,180 $51,440

(Source: Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics)

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 petroleum and coal products 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

5 3 8 9

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

1.5

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

0.9

Cases involving days away from work

0.6

Cases involving days of job transfer or restriction

0.3

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)350.809 (p)317.132 (p)317.930 (p)355.762

Percent change from previous month

  (p)-6.3% (p)-9.6% (p)0.3% (p)11.9%

Import index

134.1 127.1 (r)132.3 127.3

Percent change from previous month

  -4.7% -5.2% (r)4.1% (r)-3.8%

Export index

(r)150.8 (r)137.0 (r)140.1 146.2

Percent change from previous month

  (r)-6.5% (r)-9.2% (r)2.3% (r)4.4%

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary
(r) Revised

(Source: Producer Price Indexes, International Price Program)

Workplace Trends

This section presents data on the number of establishments in petroleum and coal products manufacturing. Also included in this section is information on productivity, presented as the rate of change in output per hour of workers in the industry.

Establishments

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

Number of establishments

Private industry

2,467 (p)2,490 (p)2,517 (p)2,534

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(Source: Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages)

Productivity

Data series Back
data
2019 2020 2021 2022

Labor productivity index, output per hour

112.416 106.137 112.205 115.866

Percent change from previous year

-3.1 -5.6 5.7 3.3

Labor index, total labor hours

97.370 87.744 90.176 90.655

Percent change from previous year

2.5 -9.9 2.8 0.5

Output index

109.459 93.128 101.182 105.038

Percent change from previous year

-0.7 -14.9 8.6 3.8

Unit labor costs index

111.536 132.905 118.332 124.962

Percent change from previous year

1.3 19.2 -11.0 5.6

(Source: Productivity and Costs)

 

Data extracted on: March 22, 2024