Goods-Producing Industries

About the Goods-Producing Industries supersector group

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

• Natural Resources and Mining
  • Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting (NAICS 11)
  • Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction (NAICS 21)

• Construction
  • Construction (NAICS 23)

• Manufacturing
  • Manufacturing (NAICS 31-33)

(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	Jan. 2025	Feb. 2025	Mar. 2025	Apr. 2025
Employment (in thousands)
Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)		21,662	21,686	(p)21,695	(p)21,706
Employment, production and nonsupervisory employees (seasonally adjusted)		15,373	15,390	(p)15,394	(p)15,400
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Union Membership and Representation

Data series	Back data	2021	2022	2023	2024
Union membership and representation
Members of unions (percent of wage and salary workers)		2.9%	3.9%	2.2%	1.4%
Represented by unions (percent of wage and salary workers)		3.1%	4.3%	2.6%	1.5%

(Source: Current Population Survey)

Dynamic Changes in Employment

Data series	Back data	4th quarter 2023	1st quarter 2024	2nd quarter 2024	3rd quarter 2024
Dynamic changes in employment (in thousands)
Gross job gains		1,319	1,357	1,248	1,216
Gross job losses		1,300	1,226	1,332	1,309

(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	Jan. 2025	Feb. 2025	Mar. 2025	Apr. 2025
Average hourly earnings		$36.53	$36.63	(p)$36.85	(p)$36.83
Average weekly hours		39.7	39.7	(p)40.0	(p)39.8
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings and Hours of Production and Nonsupervisory Employees

Data series	Back data	Jan. 2025	Feb. 2025	Mar. 2025	Apr. 2025
Average hourly earnings		$31.91	$31.98	(p)$32.18	(p)$32.23
Average weekly hours		40.5	40.6	(p)40.8	(p)40.7
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	2nd quarter 2024	3rd quarter 2024	4th quarter 2024	1st quarter 2025
Private industry
12-month percent change
Total compensation		3.5%	3.5%	3.3%	3.2%
Wages and salaries		3.6%	3.7%	3.4%	3.3%
3-month percent change
Total compensation		0.8%	0.6%	0.6%	1.2%
Wages and salaries		0.6%	0.7%	0.7%	1.3%

(Source: Compensation Cost Trends)

Data series	Private industry
	Compensation component ($ per hour worked)		Percent of total compensation
	Back data	4th quarter 2024	Back data	4th quarter 2024
Total compensation		46.38		100.0
Wages and salaries		31.50		67.9
Total benefits		14.88		32.1
Insurance		3.97		8.6
Retirement		1.72		3.7
Paid leave		2.98		6.4

(Source: Compensation Cost Trends)

Union Membership and Representation

Data series	Back data	Median weekly earnings
		2021	2022	2023	2024
Union membership and representation
Full-time workers		$675	$709	$770	$786
Members of unions		-$	-$	-$	-$
Represented by unions		-$	-$	-$	-$
Nonunion		$673	$710	$772	$786

(Source: Current Population Survey)

Work-related Injuries and Illnesses

This section presents data for the industry on 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. Information on fatal work-related injuries can be found at www.bls.gov/iif.

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	4th quarter 2023	1st quarter 2024	2nd quarter 2024	3rd quarter 2024
Number of establishments
Private industry		1,477,184	(p)1,482,343	(p)1,494,435	(p)1,504,813
Local government		4,420	(p)4,395	(p)4,396	(p)4,399
State government		2,065	(p)2,012	(p)2,016	(p)2,026
Federal government		152	(p)159	(p)160	(p)164
Establishments with changes in employment (in thousands)
With job gains (seasonally adjusted)		344	332	318	315
With job losses (seasonally adjusted)		326	324	353	340
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

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

 

Data extracted on: May 16, 2025