U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Department of Labor Logo United States Department of Labor
Dot gov

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.

Https

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.

Industries at a Glance
PRINT:Print

Apparel Manufacturing: NAICS 315

On This Page

About the Apparel Manufacturing subsector

The apparel manufacturing subsector is part of the manufacturing sector.

Industries in the Apparel Manufacturing subsector group establishments with two distinct manufacturing processes: (1) cut and sew (i.e., purchasing fabric and cutting and sewing to make a garment), and (2) the manufacture of garments in establishments that first knit fabric and then cut and sew the fabric into a garment. The Apparel Manufacturing subsector includes a diverse range of establishments manufacturing full lines of ready-to-wear apparel and custom apparel: apparel contractors, performing cutting or sewing operations on materials owned by others; jobbers performing entrepreneurial functions involved in apparel manufacture; and tailors, manufacturing custom garments for individual clients are all included. Knitting, when done alone, is classified in the Textile Mills subsector, but when knitting is combined with the production of complete garments, the activity is classified in Apparel Manufacturing.

North American Industry Classification System

The apparel manufacturing subsector consists of these industry groups:

  • Apparel Knitting Mills: NAICS 3151
  • Cut and Sew Apparel Manufacturing: NAICS 3152
  • Apparel Accessories and Other Apparel Manufacturing: NAICS 3159

Workforce Statistics

This section provides information relating to employment in apparel manufacturing. These data are obtained from employer or establishment surveys. The following tables present an overview of the industry including the number of jobs, data for occupations common to the industry, and projections of occupational employment change.

Employment

Data series Back
data		 Mar.
2021		 Apr.
2021		 May
2021		 Jun.
2021

Employment (in thousands)

Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)

 91.7 91.8 (p)92.0 (p)92.2

Employment, production and nonsupervisory employees (seasonally adjusted)

 67.1 66.7 (p)66.6 (p)67.6

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Employment by Occupation

Data series Employment,
2020

First-line supervisors/managers of production and operating workers

 2,710

Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers

 3,110

Sewing machine operators

 33,080

Textile cutting machine setters, operators, and tenders

 2,260

Textile knitting and weaving machine setters, operators, and tenders

 1,730

(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 apparel 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 apparel manufacturing.

Earnings and Hours of All Employees

Data series Back
data		 Mar.
2021		 Apr.
2021		 May
2021		 Jun.
2021

Average hourly earnings

 $21.30 $21.62 (p)$22.35 (p)$21.90

Average weekly hours

 37.2 37.0 (p)37.4 (p)37.2

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings and Hours of Production and Nonsupervisory Employees

Data series Back
data		 Mar.
2021		 Apr.
2021		 May
2021		 Jun.
2021

Average hourly earnings

 $16.79 $17.02 (p)$16.89 (p)$16.90

Average weekly hours

 38.7 38.8 (p)39.9 (p)39.2

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings by Occupation

Data series Wages, 2020
Hourly Annual
Median Mean Median Mean

First-line supervisors/managers of production and operating workers

 24.94 25.83 51,870 53,730

Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers

 14.40 16.49 29,950 34,310

Sewing machine operators

 13.02 13.42 27,080 27,910

Textile cutting machine setters, operators, and tenders

 14.19 14.53 29,520 30,230

Textile knitting and weaving machine setters, operators, and tenders

 13.20 14.25 27,450 29,640

(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 apparel 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 2014 2015 2016 2017

Fatalities

Number of fatalities

   1   1

Blank cells indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria.
Data series 2019

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

 1.1

Cases involving days away from work

 0.6

Cases involving days of job transfer or restriction

 0.5

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		 Mar.
2021		 Apr.
2021		 May
2021		 Jun.
2021

Producer price index

 (p)116.6 (p)117.1 (p)117.3 (p)117.3

Percent change from previous month

   (p)-0.2% (p)0.4% (p)0.2% (p)0.0%

Import index

 (r)113.0 (r)113.1 (r)113.3 113.1

Percent change from previous month

   (r)0.1% (r)0.1% (r)0.2% (r)-0.2%

Export index

        

Percent change from previous month

          

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary
(r) Revised

(Source: Producer Price Indexes, International Price Program)

Workplace Trends

This section presents data on the number of establishments in apparel 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		 1st quarter
2020		 2nd quarter
2020		 3rd quarter
2020		 4th quarter
2020

Number of establishments

Private industry

 (p)6,470 (p)6,384 (p)6,462 (p)6,521

Local government

        

State government

 (p)1 (p)1 (p)1 (p)1

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(Source: Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages)

Productivity

Data series Back
data		 2017 2018 2019 2020

Labor productivity index, output per hour

 96.199 96.242 104.838 115.447

Percent change from previous year

 4.5 0.0 8.9 10.1

Labor index, total labor hours

 53.269 51.013 47.513 40.097

Percent change from previous year

 -7.9 -4.2 -6.9 -15.6

Output index

 51.244 49.096 49.812 46.291

Percent change from previous year

 -3.8 -4.2 1.5 -7.1

Unit labor costs index

 124.490 124.427 119.762 106.981

Percent change from previous year

 8.4 -0.1 -3.7 -10.7

(Source: Productivity and Costs)

 

Data extracted on: July 30, 2021