Manufacturing: NAICS 31-33

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About the Manufacturing sector
BLS Data

About the Manufacturing sector

The manufacturing sector is part of the goods-producing industries supersector group.

The Manufacturing sector comprises establishments engaged in the mechanical, physical, or chemical transformation of materials, substances, or components into new products.

Establishments in the Manufacturing sector are often described as plants, factories, or mills and characteristically use power-driven machines and materials-handling equipment. However, establishments that transform materials or substances into new products by hand or in the worker's home and those engaged in selling to the general public products made on the same premises from which they are sold, such as bakeries, candy stores, and custom tailors, may also be included in this sector. Manufacturing establishments may process materials or may contract with other establishments to process their materials for them. Both types of establishments are included in manufacturing.

North American Industry Classification System

The manufacturing sector consists of these subsectors:

Workforce Statistics

This section provides information relating to employment and unemployment in 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, job openings and labor turnover, union membership and representation, gross job gains and losses, data for occupations common to the industry, and projections of occupational employment change.

Employment, Unemployment, and Openings, Hires, and Separations


Data series	Aug. 2024	Sep. 2024	Oct. 2024	Nov. 2024
Employment (in thousands)
Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)	12,925	12,913	(p)12,865	(p)12,887
Employment, production and nonsupervisory employees (seasonally adjusted)	9,024	9,016	(p)8,963	(p)8,975
Unemployment
Unemployment rate	3.5%	3.2%	3.6%	3.4%
Job openings, hires, and separations (in thousands)
Job openings	502	479	(p)463
Hires	332	366	(p)340
Separations	401	377	(p)338
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics, Current Population Survey, Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey)

Union Membership and Representation


Data series	2020	2021	2022	2023
Union membership and representation
Members of unions (percent of wage and salary workers)	8.5%	7.7%	7.8%	7.9%
Represented by unions (percent of wage and salary workers)	9.3%	8.5%	8.6%	9.1%

(Source: Current Population Survey)

Dynamic Changes in Employment


Data series	2nd quarter 2023	3rd quarter 2023	4th quarter 2023	1st quarter 2024
Dynamic changes in employment (in thousands)
Gross job gains	439	398	417	407
Gross job losses	452	460	437	407

(Source: Business Employment Dynamics)

Employment by Occupation


Data series	Employment, 2023
Helpers--production workers	128,450
Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers	379,520
Machinists	241,000
Purchasing agents, except wholesale, retail, and farm products	113,280
Team assemblers	1,112,710

(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 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, as well as weekly earnings by union membership status, are shown. In addition, recent hourly and annual earnings are shown for occupations commonly found in manufacturing. This section also contains information on the average cost of benefits paid by employers, as well as recent rates of change in wages and total compensation.

Earnings and Hours of All Employees


Data series	Aug. 2024	Sep. 2024	Oct. 2024	Nov. 2024
Average hourly earnings	$34.25	$34.32	(p)$34.43	(p)$34.48
Average weekly hours	40.1	40.0	(p)39.9	(p)40.0
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings and Hours of Production and Nonsupervisory Employees


Data series	Aug. 2024	Sep. 2024	Oct. 2024	Nov. 2024
Average hourly earnings	$27.97	$28.11	(p)$28.18	(p)$28.30
Average weekly hours	40.7	40.7	(p)40.6	(p)40.7
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings by Occupation


Data series	Wages, 2023
	Hourly		Annual
	Median	Mean	Median	Mean
Helpers--production workers	$18.05	$18.79	$37,540	$39,080
Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers	$22.30	$23.66	$46,390	$49,220
Machinists	$24.17	$25.88	$50,270	$53,820
Purchasing agents, except wholesale, retail, and farm products	$35.58	$37.30	$74,000	$77,590
Team assemblers	$19.76	$21.21	$41,090	$44,120

(Source: Occupational Employment and Wage 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
Data series	Back data	2024	Back data	2024
Private industry
Retirement benefit plans		85		70
Defined benefit plans		17		12
Defined contribution plans		83		68

(Source: Employee Benefits in the United States)


Data series	After 1 year of service		After 20 years of service
Data series	Back data	2024	Back data	2024
Mean number of vacation days for private industry workers without consolidated leave plans		8		18

(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		91
Paid vacation		96
Paid sick leave		80

(Source: Employee Benefits in the United States)

Employer Compensation Costs


Data series	4th quarter 2023	1st quarter 2024	2nd quarter 2024	3rd quarter 2024
Private industry
12-month percent change
Total compensation	3.7%	3.8%	3.8%	3.8%
Wages and salaries	3.8%	4.0%	3.9%	4.0%
3-month percent change
Total compensation	0.8%	1.5%	0.9%	0.5%
Wages and salaries	0.8%	1.6%	0.9%	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		44.17		100.0
Wages and salaries		29.29		66.3
Total benefits		14.87		33.7
Insurance		4.28		9.7
Retirement		1.50		3.4
Paid leave		3.26		7.4

(Source: Compensation Cost Trends)

Union Membership and Representation


Data series	Back data	Median weekly earnings
Data series	Back data	2020	2021	2022	2023
Union membership and representation
Full-time workers		$1,008	$1,033	$1,102	$1,148
Members of unions		$1,016	$1,016	$1,116	$1,135
Represented by unions		$1,012	$1,015	$1,126	$1,107
Nonunion		$1,008	$1,036	$1,098	$1,153

(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 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	336	341	384	405
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	2.8
Cases involving days away from work, job restriction, or transfer	1.8
Cases involving days away from work	0.9
Cases involving days of job transfer or restriction	0.9
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. 2024	Aug. 2024	Sep. 2024	Oct. 2024
Producer price index	(p)249.848	(p)249.109	(p)246.356	(p)247.483
Percent change from previous month	(p)0.9%	(p)-0.3%	(p)-1.1%	(p)0.5%
Import index	122.9	(r)122.9	123.0	123.2
Percent change from previous month	-0.2%	(r)0.0%	(r)0.1%	0.2%
Export index	135.5	(r)134.9	(r)134.5	135.5
Percent change from previous month	0.7%	(r)-0.4%	(r)-0.3%	(r)0.7%
Footnotes (p) Preliminary (r) Revised

(Source: Producer Price Indexes, International Price Program)

Workplace Trends

This section presents data on the number of establishments and the number of establishments experiencing job gains or job losses in manufacturing. Also included in this section is information on productivity and costs, presented as indexes and changes in output per hour and unit labor costs.

Establishments


Data series	3rd quarter 2023	4th quarter 2023	1st quarter 2024	2nd quarter 2024
Number of establishments
Private industry	394,009	396,002	(p)399,967	(p)402,961
Local government	44	65	(p)52	(p)49
State government	24	24	(p)25	(p)25
Federal government	77	76	(p)79	(p)81
Establishments with changes in employment (in thousands)
With job gains (seasonally adjusted)	93	96	93
With job losses (seasonally adjusted)	102	98	98
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

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

Productivity

This section presents productivity and related data for the manufacturing sector, presented as the percent change from the previous quarter. Measures of labor productivity, or output per hour, compare the growth in output to the growth in hours worked. Growth in unit labor costs represent the quarterly change in the labor cost of producing one unit of output.


Data series	4th quarter 2023	1st quarter 2024	2nd quarter 2024	3rd quarter 2024
Labor productivtiy, output per hour	2.0	-0.7	(r)0.2	(r)0.9
Hours worked	-3.3	-0.2	1.2	(r)-1.3
Output	(r)-1.4	-0.9	(r)1.4	(r)-0.4
Unit labor costs	4.6	7.0	(r)-5.8	(r)1.7
Footnotes (r) Revised

(Source: Productivity)

Data extracted on: December 11, 2024