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Chemical Manufacturing: NAICS 325

About the Chemical Manufacturing subsector

The chemical manufacturing subsector is part of the manufacturing sector.

The Chemical Manufacturing subsector is based on the transformation of organic and inorganic raw materials by a chemical process and the formulation of products. This subsector distinguishes the production of basic chemicals that comprise the first industry group from the production of intermediate and end products produced by further processing of basic chemicals that make up the remaining industry groups.

North American Industry Classification System

The chemical manufacturing subsector consists of these industry groups:

  • Basic Chemical Manufacturing: NAICS 3251
  • Resin, Synthetic Rubber, and Artificial Synthetic Fibers and Filaments Manufacturing: NAICS 3252
  • Pesticide, Fertilizer, and Other Agricultural Chemical Manufacturing: NAICS 3253
  • Pharmaceutical and Medicine Manufacturing: NAICS 3254
  • Paint, Coating, and Adhesive Manufacturing: NAICS 3255
  • Soap, Cleaning Compound, and Toilet Preparation Manufacturing: NAICS 3256
  • Other Chemical Product and Preparation Manufacturing: NAICS 3259

Workforce Statistics

This section provides information relating to employment and unemployment in chemical 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, data for occupations common to the industry, and projections of occupational employment change.

Employment and Unemployment

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

Employment (in thousands)

Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)

900.5 902.3 (p)902.5 (p)902.2

Employment, production and nonsupervisory employees (seasonally adjusted)

571.6 576.1 (p)581.6 (p)584.5

Unemployment

Unemployment rate

3.0% 3.2% 3.3% 3.4%

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics, Current Population Survey

Employment by Occupation

Data series Employment,
2023

Chemical equipment operators and tenders

109,070

Chemical technicians

17,090

Chemists

24,910

Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders

31,700

Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders

57,160

(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 chemical 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 employees are shown. In addition, recent hourly and annual earnings are shown for occupations commonly found in chemical manufacturing.

Earnings and Hours of All Employees

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

Average hourly earnings

$38.62 $39.01 (p)$39.04 (p)$41.07

Average weekly hours

40.7 40.1 (p)40.1 (p)40.3

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings and Hours of Production and Nonsupervisory Employees

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

Average hourly earnings

$30.72 $30.65 (p)$30.79 (p)$31.25

Average weekly hours

41.6 41.4 (p)40.5 (p)40.8

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings by Occupation

Data series Wages, 2023
Hourly Annual
Median Mean Median Mean

Chemical equipment operators and tenders

24.78 27.58 51,530 57,360

Chemical technicians

29.45 31.35 61,260 65,200

Chemists

38.87 43.62 80,840 90,730

Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders

22.28 23.42 46,340 48,720

Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders

18.52 20.09 38,510 41,790

(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 chemical 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

16 12 26 13

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

Data series 2022

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

1.3

Cases involving days away from work

0.6

Cases involving days of job transfer or restriction

0.6

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
May
2024
Jun.
2024
Jul.
2024
Aug.
2024

Producer price index

(p)352.602 (p)352.886 (p)354.597 (p)356.027

Percent change from previous month

  (p)0.1% (p)0.1% (p)0.5% (p)0.4%

Import index

(r)151.4 (r)151.7 151.0 151.1

Percent change from previous month

  (r)0.0% (r)0.2% (r)-0.5% 0.1%

Export index

131.3 131.3 (r)132.3 132.4

Percent change from previous month

  -0.5% 0.0% (r)0.8% (r)0.1%

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary
(r) Revised

(Source: Producer Price Indexes, International Price Program)

Workplace Trends

This section presents data on the number of establishments in chemical 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
2nd quarter
2023
3rd quarter
2023
4th quarter
2023
1st quarter
2024

Number of establishments

Private industry

24,291 24,657 24,886 (p)25,256

Local government

4 4 4 (p)4

Federal government

       

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(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
2020 2021 2022 2023

Labor productivity, output per hour

-0.1 3.3 -5.1 -1.1

Hours worked

-2.4 1.9 4.7 0.8

Output

-2.6 5.3 -0.6 -0.3

Unit labor costs

5.9 -0.6 8.1 2.6

(Source: Productivity)

 

Data extracted on: October 04, 2024