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Plastics and Rubber Products Manufacturing: NAICS 326

About the Plastics and Rubber Products Manufacturing subsector

The plastics and rubber products manufacturing subsector is part of the manufacturing sector.

Industries in the Plastics and Rubber Products Manufacturing subsector make goods by processing plastics materials and raw rubber. The core technology employed by establishments in this subsector is that of plastics or rubber product production. Plastics and rubber are combined in the same subsector because plastics are increasingly being used as a substitute for rubber; however the subsector is generally restricted to the production of products made of just one material, either solely plastics or rubber.

North American Industry Classification System

The plastics and rubber products manufacturing subsector consists of these industry groups:

Plastics Product Manufacturing: NAICS 3261
Rubber Product Manufacturing: NAICS 3262

Workforce Statistics

This section provides information relating to employment and unemployment in plastics and rubber products 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	May 2023	Jun. 2023	Jul. 2023	Aug. 2023
Employment (in thousands)
Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)	746.1	744.2	(p)741.9	(p)738.2
Employment, production and nonsupervisory employees (seasonally adjusted)	567.9	566.8	(p)564.2	(p)559.5
Unemployment
Unemployment rate	1.0%	1.8%	4.1%	5.6%
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics, Current Population Survey

Employment by Occupation


Data series	Employment, 2022
Extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	33,140
Extruding, forming, pressing, and compacting machine setters, operators, and tenders	22,780
First-line supervisors/managers of production and operating workers	36,510
Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers	38,120
Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	89,690
Packers and packagers, hand	22,430
Team assemblers	71,900

(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 plastics and rubber products 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 plastics and rubber products manufacturing.

Earnings and Hours of All Employees


Data series	May 2023	Jun. 2023	Jul. 2023	Aug. 2023
Average hourly earnings	$28.81	$28.85	(p)$29.29	(p)$29.34
Average weekly hours	40.4	40.6	(p)40.5	(p)40.2
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings and Hours of Production and Nonsupervisory Employees


Data series	May 2023	Jun. 2023	Jul. 2023	Aug. 2023
Average hourly earnings	$23.76	$23.96	(p)$24.15	(p)$24.16
Average weekly hours	41.4	41.5	(p)41.4	(p)41.3
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings by Occupation


Data series	Wages, 2022
	Hourly		Annual
	Median	Mean	Median	Mean
Extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	18.61	19.99	38,720	41,590
Extruding, forming, pressing, and compacting machine setters, operators, and tenders	18.43	19.43	38,330	40,410
First-line supervisors/managers of production and operating workers	29.42	30.42	61,200	63,270
Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers	18.41	19.67	38,300	40,920
Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	17.45	18.40	36,300	38,280
Packers and packagers, hand	16.35	16.38	34,000	34,070
Team assemblers	17.08	17.62	35,530	36,640

(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 plastics and rubber products 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	2018	2019	2020	2021
Fatalities
Number of fatalities	12	10	16	25
Blank cells indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria.


Data series	2021
Rate of injury and illness cases per 100 full-time workers
Total recordable cases	3.4
Cases involving days away from work, job restriction, or transfer	2.3
Cases involving days away from work	1.2
Cases involving days of job transfer or restriction	1.1
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	May 2023	Jun. 2023	Jul. 2023	Aug. 2023
Producer price index	(p)252.002	(p)251.289	(p)250.907	(p)250.345
Percent change from previous month	(p)-0.4%	(p)-0.3%	(p)-0.2%	(p)-0.2%
Import index	134.3	134.1	(r)133.7	133.7
Percent change from previous month	0.6%	-0.1%	(r)-0.3%	(r)0.0%
Export index	133.2	(r)133.2	133.6	133.8
Percent change from previous month	0.2%	(r)0.0%	(r)0.3%	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 plastics and rubber products 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	2nd quarter 2022	3rd quarter 2022	4th quarter 2022	1st quarter 2023
Number of establishments
Private industry	13,868	13,964	14,038	(p)14,155
Local government	2	2	2	(p)2
State government
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages)

Productivity


Data series	2019	2020	2021	2022
Labor productivity index, output per hour	94.256	93.537	95.086	91.713
Percent change from previous year	-2.1	-0.8	1.7	-3.5
Labor index, total labor hours	113.008	107.001	111.236	115.846
Percent change from previous year	0.1	-5.3	4.0	4.1
Output index	106.517	100.086	105.770	106.246
Percent change from previous year	-1.9	-6.0	5.7	0.5
Unit labor costs index	117.817	126.213	126.820	140.801
Percent change from previous year	4.4	7.1	0.5	11.0

(Source: Productivity and Costs)

Data extracted on: September 27, 2023