An official website of the United States government

The .gov means it's official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you're on a federal government site.

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Chemical Manufacturing: NAICS 325

About the Chemical Manufacturing subsector

The chemical manufacturing subsector is part of the manufacturing sector.

The Chemical Manufacturing subsector is based on the transformation of organic and inorganic raw materials by a chemical process and the formulation of products. This subsector distinguishes the production of basic chemicals that comprise the first industry group from the production of intermediate and end products produced by further processing of basic chemicals that make up the remaining industry groups.

North American Industry Classification System

The chemical manufacturing subsector consists of these industry groups:

Basic Chemical Manufacturing: NAICS 3251
Resin, Synthetic Rubber, and Artificial Synthetic Fibers and Filaments Manufacturing: NAICS 3252
Pesticide, Fertilizer, and Other Agricultural Chemical Manufacturing: NAICS 3253
Pharmaceutical and Medicine Manufacturing: NAICS 3254
Paint, Coating, and Adhesive Manufacturing: NAICS 3255
Soap, Cleaning Compound, and Toilet Preparation Manufacturing: NAICS 3256
Other Chemical Product and Preparation Manufacturing: NAICS 3259

Workforce Statistics

This section provides information relating to employment and unemployment in chemical 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	Jul. 2023	Aug. 2023	Sep. 2023	Oct. 2023
Employment (in thousands)
Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)	914.5	915.0	(p)916.6	(p)914.0
Employment, production and nonsupervisory employees (seasonally adjusted)	570.3	572.2	(p)573.3	(p)574.1
Unemployment
Unemployment rate	1.8%	1.7%	1.5%	1.7%
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics, Current Population Survey

Employment by Occupation


Data series	Employment, 2022
Chemical equipment operators and tenders	104,060
Chemical technicians	17,090
Chemists	24,810
Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders	33,870
Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders	61,030

(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 chemical 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 employees are shown. In addition, recent hourly and annual earnings are shown for occupations commonly found in chemical manufacturing.

Earnings and Hours of All Employees


Data series	Jul. 2023	Aug. 2023	Sep. 2023	Oct. 2023
Average hourly earnings	$37.61	$37.29	(p)$38.14	(p)$37.88
Average weekly hours	40.6	40.8	(p)41.0	(p)40.8
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings and Hours of Production and Nonsupervisory Employees


Data series	Jul. 2023	Aug. 2023	Sep. 2023	Oct. 2023
Average hourly earnings	$30.16	$30.17	(p)$30.50	(p)$29.91
Average weekly hours	41.3	41.8	(p)41.8	(p)41.7
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings by Occupation


Data series	Wages, 2022
	Hourly		Annual
	Median	Mean	Median	Mean
Chemical equipment operators and tenders	23.64	26.00	49,170	54,070
Chemical technicians	26.87	28.05	55,900	58,350
Chemists	37.71	40.93	78,430	85,140
Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders	20.96	22.04	43,600	45,850
Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders	17.98	19.36	37,390	40,260

(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 chemical 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	2018	2019	2020	2021
Fatalities
Number of fatalities	18	16	12	26
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	1.9
Cases involving days away from work, job restriction, or transfer	1.3
Cases involving days away from work	0.6
Cases involving days of job transfer or restriction	0.6
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	Jul. 2023	Aug. 2023	Sep. 2023	Oct. 2023
Producer price index	(p)353.649	(p)352.185	(p)352.148	(p)352.317
Percent change from previous month	(p)-1.1%	(p)-0.4%	(p)0.0%	(p)0.0%
Import index	150.2	149.3	(r)148.9	149.3
Percent change from previous month	-0.9%	-0.6%	(r)-0.3%	(r)0.3%
Export index	132.1	(r)132.1	(r)131.8	131.4
Percent change from previous month	-1.6%	(r)0.0%	(r)-0.2%	(r)-0.3%
Footnotes (p) Preliminary (r) Revised

(Source: Producer Price Indexes, International Price Program)

Workplace Trends

This section presents data on the number of establishments in chemical 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	2nd quarter 2022	3rd quarter 2022	4th quarter 2022	1st quarter 2023
Number of establishments
Private industry	23,169	23,466	23,774	(p)24,051
Local government	4	4	4	(p)4
Federal government
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages)

Productivity


Data series	2019	2020	2021	2022
Labor productivity index, output per hour	90.844	90.497	93.800	88.017
Percent change from previous year	-3.8	-0.4	3.6	-6.2
Labor index, total labor hours	105.620	103.221	104.910	110.528
Percent change from previous year	1.3	-2.3	1.6	5.4
Output index	95.949	93.412	98.406	97.284
Percent change from previous year	-2.5	-2.6	5.3	-1.1
Unit labor costs index	120.498	127.725	126.927	141.155
Percent change from previous year	4.4	6.0	-0.6	11.2

(Source: Productivity and Costs)

Data extracted on: December 01, 2023