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Transportation Equipment Manufacturing: NAICS 336

About the Transportation Equipment Manufacturing subsector

The transportation equipment manufacturing subsector is part of the manufacturing sector.

Industries in the Transportation Equipment Manufacturing subsector produce equipment for transporting people and goods. Transportation equipment is a type of machinery. An entire subsector is devoted to this activity because of the significance of its economic size in all three North American countries. ^~Establishments in this subsector utilize production processes similar to those of other machinery manufacturing establishments - bending, forming, welding, machining, and assembling metal or plastic parts into components and finished products. However, the assembly of components and subassemblies and their further assembly into finished vehicles tends to be a more common production process in this subsector than in the Machinery Manufacturing subsector.

North American Industry Classification System

The transportation equipment manufacturing subsector consists of these industry groups:

  • Motor Vehicle Manufacturing: NAICS 3361
  • Motor Vehicle Body and Trailer Manufacturing: NAICS 3362
  • Motor Vehicle Parts Manufacturing: NAICS 3363
  • Aerospace Product and Parts Manufacturing: NAICS 3364
  • Railroad Rolling Stock Manufacturing: NAICS 3365
  • Ship and Boat Building: NAICS 3366
  • Other Transportation Equipment Manufacturing: NAICS 3369

Workforce Statistics

This section provides information relating to employment and unemployment in transportation equipment 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)

1,822.1 1,831.3 (p)1,836.0 (p)1,834.1

Employment, production and nonsupervisory employees (seasonally adjusted)

1,291.5 1,295.4 (p)1,298.5 (p)1,301.3

Unemployment

Unemployment rate

2.6% 1.2% 3.0% 3.8%

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics, Current Population Survey

Employment by Occupation

Data series Employment,
2022

Aerospace engineers

20,870

Machinists

40,600

Mechanical engineers

26,940

Team assemblers

372,400

Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers

67,460

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

Earnings and Hours of All Employees

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

Average hourly earnings

$38.15 $38.66 (p)$39.22 (p)$38.40

Average weekly hours

41.6 42.0 (p)41.8 (p)41.9

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

$32.49 $33.76 (p)$33.69 (p)$33.52

Average weekly hours

41.4 41.6 (p)41.0 (p)41.7

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings by Occupation

Data series Wages, 2022
Hourly Annual
Median Mean Median Mean

Aerospace engineers

61.80 61.33 128,550 127,560

Machinists

25.17 26.43 52,360 54,970

Mechanical engineers

47.29 50.09 98,360 104,200

Team assemblers

21.62 23.06 44,980 47,970

Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers

22.55 23.51 46,910 48,890

(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 transportation equipment 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

30 26 28 41

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

3.6

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

2.4

Cases involving days away from work

1.1

Cases involving days of job transfer or restriction

1.3

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)141.155 (p)140.910 (p)141.320 (p)141.556

Percent change from previous month

  (p)0.2% (p)-0.2% (p)0.3% (p)0.2%

Import index

(r)118.0 (r)118.0 (r)119.1 119.3

Percent change from previous month

  (r)-0.1% (r)0.0% (r)0.9% (r)0.2%

Export index

(r)146.2 (r)146.6 (r)148.9 149.2

Percent change from previous month

  (r)0.3% (r)0.3% (r)1.6% (r)0.2%

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary
(r) Revised

(Source: Producer Price Indexes, International Price Program)

Workplace Trends

This section presents data on the number of establishments in transportation equipment 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

17,385 (p)17,665 (p)17,927 (p)18,159

Local government

2 (p)3 (p)3 (p)3

State government

       

Federal government

15 (p)14 (p)14 (p)14

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

94.670 91.896 91.718 90.273

Percent change from previous year

-4.1 -2.9 -0.2 -1.6

Labor index, total labor hours

116.017 102.887 108.299 115.630

Percent change from previous year

-0.4 -11.3 5.3 6.8

Output index

109.834 94.549 99.330 104.383

Percent change from previous year

-4.5 -13.9 5.1 5.1

Unit labor costs index

118.175 130.838 128.196 137.796

Percent change from previous year

8.4 10.7 -2.0 7.5

(Source: Productivity and Costs)

 

Data extracted on: March 22, 2024