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Goods-Producing Industries

About the Goods-Producing Industries supersector group

The goods-producing industries supersector group consists of these supersectors and sectors:

(All other industries are part of the Service-Providing Industries supersector group.)

Workforce Statistics

This section provides information relating to employment in goods-producing industries. These data are obtained from employer or establishment surveys. The following tables present an overview of the industry including the number of jobs, union membership and representation, gross job gains and losses, and projections of occupational employment change.

Employment

Data series Back
data
Jul.
2024
Aug.
2024
Sep.
2024
Oct.
2024

Employment (in thousands)

Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)

21,833 21,835 (p)21,858 (p)21,821

Employment, production and nonsupervisory employees (seasonally adjusted)

15,546 15,542 (p)15,555 (p)15,502

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

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)

1.7% 2.9% 3.9% 2.2%

Represented by unions (percent of wage and salary workers)

1.9% 3.1% 4.3% 2.6%

(Source: Current Population Survey)

Dynamic Changes in Employment

Data series Back
data
2nd quarter
2023
3rd quarter
2023
4th quarter
2023
1st quarter
2024

Dynamic changes in employment (in thousands)

Gross job gains

1,369 1,255 1,319 1,357

Gross job losses

1,327 1,324 1,300 1,226

(Source: Business Employment Dynamics)

Projections

For projected (future) employment estimates in goods-producing industries, see the Employment and projected employment by major industry sector table.

(Source: Office of Occupational Statistics and Employment Projections)

Earnings and Hours

Earnings and Hours of All Employees

Data series Back
data
Jul.
2024
Aug.
2024
Sep.
2024
Oct.
2024

Average hourly earnings

$35.84 $35.97 (p)$36.11 (p)$36.21

Average weekly hours

39.7 39.8 (p)39.8 (p)39.7

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings and Hours of Production and Nonsupervisory Employees

Data series Back
data
Jul.
2024
Aug.
2024
Sep.
2024
Oct.
2024

Average hourly earnings

$31.20 $31.26 (p)$31.45 (p)$31.58

Average weekly hours

40.5 40.6 (p)40.7 (p)40.6

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment 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
2024 Back
data
2024

Private industry

Retirement benefit plans

80 64

Defined benefit plans

16 12

Defined contribution plans

78 60

(Source: Employee Benefits in the United States)

Data series After 1 year of service After 20 years of service
Back
data
2024 Back
data
2024

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

7 16

(Source: Employee Benefits in the United States)

Data series Back
data
2024

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

Health care

86

Paid vacation

89

Paid sick leave

76

(Source: Employee Benefits in the United States)

Employer Compensation Costs

Data series Back
data
4th quarter
2023
1st quarter
2024
2nd quarter
2024
3rd quarter
2024

Private industry

12-month percent change

Total compensation

3.8% 3.8% 3.5% 3.5%

Wages and salaries

4.1% 4.1% 3.6% 3.7%

3-month percent change

Total compensation

0.8% 1.3% 0.8% 0.6%

Wages and salaries

1.0% 1.4% 0.6% 0.7%

(Source: Compensation Cost Trends)

Data series Private industry
Compensation component
($ per hour worked)
Percent of total compensation
Back
data
2nd quarter 2024 Back
data
2nd quarter 2024

Total compensation

45.41 100.0

Wages and salaries

30.70 67.6

Total benefits

14.71 32.4

Insurance

3.96 8.7

Retirement

1.81 4.0

Paid leave

2.84 6.3

(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

$640 $675 $709 $770

Members of unions

-$ -$ -$ -$

Represented by unions

-$ -$ -$ -$

Nonunion

$638 $673 $710 $772

(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 goods-producing industries. 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 2015 2016 2017 2018

Fatalities

Number of fatalities

2,035 2,038 2,013 2,085

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

Data series 2023

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

Total recordable cases

2.7

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

1.7

Cases involving days away from work

1.0

Cases involving days of job transfer or restriction

0.7

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

(Source: Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities)

Workplace Trends

This section presents data on the number of establishments and the number of establishments experiencing job gains or job losses in goods-producing industries.

Establishments

Data series Back
data
3rd quarter
2023
4th quarter
2023
1st quarter
2024
2nd quarter
2024

Number of establishments

Private industry

1,470,934 1,477,184 (p)1,486,380 (p)1,500,501

Local government

4,394 4,420 (p)4,397 (p)4,398

State government

1,991 2,065 (p)2,012 (p)2,017

Federal government

153 152 (p)156 (p)157

Establishments with changes in employment (in thousands)

With job gains (seasonally adjusted)

321 344 332  

With job losses (seasonally adjusted)

343 326 324  

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

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

 

Data extracted on: December 05, 2024