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Industries at a Glance
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Paper Manufacturing: NAICS 322
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About the Paper Manufacturing subsector
The paper manufacturing subsector is part of the manufacturing sector.
Industries in the Paper Manufacturing subsector make pulp, paper, or converted paper products. The manufacturing of these products is grouped together because they constitute a series of vertically connected processes. More than one is often carried out in a single establishment. There are essentially three activities. The manufacturing of pulp involves separating the cellulose fibers from other impurities in wood or used paper. The manufacturing of paper involves matting these fibers into a sheet. Converted paper products are made from paper and other materials by various cutting and shaping techniques and include coating and laminating activities.
North American Industry Classification System
The paper manufacturing subsector consists of these industry groups:
- Pulp, Paper, and Paperboard Mills: NAICS 3221
- Converted Paper Product Manufacturing: NAICS 3222
Workforce Statistics
This section provides information relating to employment in paper 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 |
Dec. 2024 |
Jan. 2025 |
Feb. 2025 |
Mar. 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Employment (in thousands) |
|||||
Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted) |
|
354.4 | 354.2 | (p)355.5 | (p)354.0 |
Employment, production and nonsupervisory employees (seasonally adjusted) |
|
264.5 | 264.1 | (p)265.4 | (p)263.0 |
|
Footnotes |
|||||
(Source: Current Employment Statistics)
Employment by Occupation
| Data series | Employment, 2024 |
|---|---|
| 10,380 | |
First-line supervisors/managers of production and operating workers |
16,840 |
| 5,970 | |
| 15,520 | |
| 88,340 |
(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 paper 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 paper manufacturing.
Earnings and Hours of All Employees
| Data series | Back data |
Dec. 2024 |
Jan. 2025 |
Feb. 2025 |
Mar. 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
$31.74 | $31.42 | (p)$31.86 | (p)$32.07 | |
|
|
41.8 | 41.6 | (p)41.8 | (p)41.7 | |
|
Footnotes |
|||||
(Source: Current Employment Statistics)
Earnings and Hours of Production and Nonsupervisory Employees
| Data series | Back data |
Dec. 2024 |
Jan. 2025 |
Feb. 2025 |
Mar. 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
$26.26 | $26.55 | (p)$26.74 | (p)$27.02 | |
|
|
42.0 | 41.4 | (p)41.7 | (p)41.3 | |
|
Footnotes |
|||||
(Source: Current Employment Statistics)
Earnings by Occupation
| Data series | Wages, 2024 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hourly | Annual | |||
| Median | Mean | Median | Mean | |
| $24.66 | $25.11 | $51,290 | $52,220 | |
First-line supervisors/managers of production and operating workers |
$38.88 | $40.68 | $80,870 | $84,610 |
| $61.08 | $64.66 | $127,040 | $134,490 | |
| $23.14 | $23.32 | $48,130 | $48,510 | |
| $24.03 | $25.33 | $49,980 | $52,690 | |
(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 paper 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 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Fatalities |
||||
| 10 | ||||
|
There was a series break beginning with 2023 data due to NAICS 2022. Data for years prior to 2023 are available at www.bls.gov/iif. |
||||
| Data series | 2023 |
|---|---|
Rate of injury and illness cases per 100 full-time workers |
|
| 2.4 | |
Cases involving days away from work, job restriction, or transfer |
1.5 |
| 0.8 | |
| 0.8 | |
|
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 |
Dec. 2024 |
Jan. 2025 |
Feb. 2025 |
Mar. 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
(p)186.490 | (p)186.792 | (p)187.234 | (p)187.923 | |
Percent change from previous month |
(p)-0.1% | (p)0.2% | (p)0.2% | (p)0.4% | |
|
|
120.4 | 118.5 | (r)117.4 | 117.6 | |
Percent change from previous month |
-0.1% | -1.6% | (r)-0.9% | (r)0.2% | |
|
|
100.0 | (r)100.3 | 99.4 | ||
Percent change from previous month |
(r)0.3% | (r)-0.9% | |||
(Source: Producer Price Indexes, International Price Program)
Workplace Trends
This section presents data on the number of establishments in paper 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 2023 |
1st quarter 2024 |
2nd quarter 2024 |
3rd quarter 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Number of establishments |
|||||
|
|
5,632 | (p)5,660 | (p)5,677 | (p)5,723 | |
|
Footnotes |
|||||
(Source: Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages)
Productivity
This section presents productivity and related data for the industry, presented as the percent change from the previous year. 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 annual change in the labor cost of producing one unit of output.
| Data series | Back data |
2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
-0.2 | -6.0 | -3.0 | -1.8 | |
|
|
1.9 | 2.2 | -4.3 | 1.4 | |
|
|
1.6 | -3.9 | -7.2 | -0.5 | |
|
|
1.3 | 10.5 | 9.5 | 2.8 |
(Source: Productivity)
Data extracted on: April 29, 2025