Employment concentration in automotive industries

In 2001, Michigan’s automobile manufacturing industry had 90,300 employees. By 2005, this employment had fallen to 65,500. As a result, the industry’s location quotient—a measure of relative employment concentration—fell from 9.3 to 7.9.

[Chart data—TXT]

Location quotients are the ratio of two elements. The first element is the ratio of an industry’s statewide employment to the State’s total private employment. The second is the ratio of an industry’s nationwide employment to the Nation’s total private employment. The location quotient is the ratio of these two elements. A location quotient greater than 1.0 indicates more local concentration in an industry than the National average.

Despite the decline in concentration between 2001 and 2005, Michigan was still the most concentrated State in automobile manufacturing in the nation in 2005. Kentucky had the second highest concentration in 2005 with a location quotient of 5.3.

In 2001, Indiana had the highest relative employment concentration in motor vehicle body and trailer manufacturing industry, 8.0, and this concentration increased to 9.9 in 2005.

In motor vehicle parts manufacturing, Michigan’s location quotient fell from 7.6 in 2001 to 7.0 in 2005. Despite this decline in concentration, Michigan remained the most concentrated State in the nation in 2005 in motor vehicle parts manufacturing.

The BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages program produced these data. Employment data presented here are for all private-sector workers covered by State and Federal unemployment insurance programs. Find out more in "Automotive industries: Concentration and change," (PDF) Issues in Labor Statistics, BLS Summary 07-04.