Manufacturing: NAICS 31-33

About the Manufacturing sector

The manufacturing sector is part of the goods-producing industries supersector group.

The Manufacturing sector comprises establishments engaged in the mechanical, physical, or chemical transformation of materials, substances, or components into new products.

Establishments in the Manufacturing sector are often described as plants, factories, or mills and characteristically use power-driven machines and materials-handling equipment. However, establishments that transform materials or substances into new products by hand or in the worker's home and those engaged in selling to the general public products made on the same premises from which they are sold, such as bakeries, candy stores, and custom tailors, may also be included in this sector. Manufacturing establishments may process materials or may contract with other establishments to process their materials for them. Both types of establishments are included in manufacturing.

North American Industry Classification System

The manufacturing sector consists of these subsectors:

NOTE: There was a change in the definition of this subsector between NAICS 2002 and NAICS 2007. Some of the data below reflect the 2002 definition and some reflect the 2007 definition. See the BLS implementation schedule for NAICS 2007 to find out which BLS programs have already implemented NAICS 2007.

Workforce Statistics

This section provides information relating to employment and unemployment in 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, job openings and labor turnover, union membership and representation, gross job gains and losses, mass layoffs, data for occupations common to the industry, and projections of occupational employment change.

Employment, Unemployment, Layoffs, and Openings, Hires, and Separations

Data series Back
data
May
2008
Jun.
2008
Jul.
2008
Aug.
2008

Employment (in thousands)

 

Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)

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13,571 13,527 (P) 13,489 (P) 13,428

Employment, production workers (seasonally adjusted)

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9,784 9,738 (P) 9,700 (P) 9,643

Unemployment

 

Unemployment rate

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5.3% 5.2% 5.5% 5.7%

Layoffs

 

Mass layoff events

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388 309 760  

Initial claimants for unemployment benefits

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51,698 42,097 108,733  

Job openings, hires, and separations (in thousands)

 

Job openings

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259 250 (P) 242  

Hires

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313 350 (P) 269  

Separations

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358 355 (P) 311  

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics, Current Population Survey, Mass Layoff Statistics, Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey)

Union Membership and Representation

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data
2004 2005 2006 2007

Union membership and representation

 

Members of unions (percent of wage and salary workers)

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12.9% 13.0% 11.7% 11.3%

Represented by unions (percent of wage and salary workers)

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13.9% 13.7% 12.5% 12.0%

(Source: Current Population Survey)

Dynamic Changes in Employment

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data
1st quarter
2007
2nd quarter
2007
3rd quarter
2007
4th quarter
2007

Dynamic changes in employment (in thousands)

 

Gross job gains

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500 522 467 495

Gross job losses

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579 567 564 561

(Source: Business Employment Dynamics)

Extended Mass Layoffs

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data
3rd quarter
2007
4th quarter
2007
1st quarter
2008
2nd quarter
2008

Extended mass layoff events

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269 442 (P) 422 (P) 334

Separations

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43,336 80,567 (P) 84,411 (P) 56,212

Initial claimants

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54,116 117,627 (P) 105,759 (P) 47,168

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Mass Layoff Statistics)

Employment by Occupation

Data series Employment,
2007

Helpers--production workers

336,580

Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers

330,620

Machinists

328,270

Purchasing agents, except wholesale, retail, and farm products

104,360

Team assemblers

856,110

(Source: Occupational Employment Statistics)

Projections

For projected (future) employment estimates, see the National Employment Matrix, which includes employment estimates by industry and occupation for 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 for production or nonsupervisory employees, as well as weekly earnings by union membership status, are shown. In addition, recent hourly and annual earnings are shown for occupations commonly found in manufacturing. This section also contains information on the average cost of benefits paid by employers, as well as recent rates of change in wages and total compensation.

Earnings and Hours of Production Workers

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May
2008
Jun.
2008
Jul.
2008
Aug.
2008

Average hourly earnings

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$17.65 $17.71 (P) $17.79 (P) $17.75

Average weekly hours

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41.0 41.0 (P) 41.0 (P) 40.9

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Union Membership and Representation

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Median weekly earnings
2004 2005 2006 2007

Union membership and representation

 

Full-time workers

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$662 $676 $702 $719

Members of unions

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$694 $722 $755 $783

Represented by unions

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$692 $719 $753 $779

Nonunion

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$654 $667 $692 $708

(Source: Current Population Survey)

Earnings by Occupation

Data series Wages, 2007
Hourly Annual
Median Mean Median Mean

Helpers--production workers

$10.75 $11.38 $22,360 $23,660

Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers

$14.91 $16.07 $31,010 $33,430

Machinists

$17.11 $17.68 $35,590 $36,780

Purchasing agents, except wholesale, retail, and farm products

$24.48 $25.94 $50,920 $53,950

Team assemblers

$12.64 $13.41 $26,280 $27,900

(Source: Occupational Employment Statistics)

Employer Compensation Costs

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3rd quarter
2007
4th quarter
2007
1st quarter
2008
2nd quarter
2008

12-month percent change

 

Total compensation

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1.8% 2.0% 2.6% 2.1%

Wages and salaries

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2.6% 2.5% 2.5% 2.7%

(Source: Compensation Cost Trends)



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data
2nd quarter 2008
Compensation component
($ per hour worked)
Percent of total compensation

Compensation costs

 

Total compensation

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31.61 100.0

Wages and salaries

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20.83 65.9

Total benefits

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10.77 34.1

Insurance

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3.13 9.9

Retirement

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1.31 4.1

(Source: Compensation Cost Trends)

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 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 2004 2005 2006 2007

Fatalities

 

Number of fatalities

463 394 457 (P) 393

Rate of injury and illness cases per 100 full-time workers

 

Total recordable cases

6.6 6.3 6.0  

Cases involving days away from work, job restriction, or transfer

3.6 3.5 3.3  

Cases involving days away from work

1.6 1.5 1.4  

Cases involving days of job transfer or restriction

2.1 2.0 1.9  

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(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.

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May
2008
Jun.
2008
Jul.
2008
Aug.
2008

Producer price index

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(P) 179.3 (P) 182.0 (P) 185.6 (P) 183.0

Percent change from previous month

 

(P) 2.3% (P) 1.5% (P) 2.0% (P) -1.4%

Import index

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(R) 113.9 115.3 (R) 115.9 114.9

Percent change from previous month

 

(R) 1.1% (R) 1.2% (R) 0.5% (R) -0.9%

Export index

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112.1 113.3 114.5 113.9

Percent change from previous month

 

0.5% 1.1% 1.1% -0.5%

Footnotes
(R) Revised
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Producer Price Indexes, International Price Program)

Workplace Trends

This section presents data on the number of establishments and the number of establishments experiencing job gains or job losses in manufacturing. Also included in this section is information on productivity and costs, presented as indexes and changes in output per hour and unit labor costs.

Establishments

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1st quarter
2007
2nd quarter
2007
3rd quarter
2007
4th quarter
2007

Number of establishments

 

Private industry

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(P) 361,099 (P) 361,248 (P) 361,829 (P) 360,829

Local government

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(P) 43 (P) 42 (P) 41 (P) 42

State government

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(P) 24 (P) 24 (P) 24 (P) 25

Federal government

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(P) 36 (P) 36 (P) 36 (P) 36

Establishments with changes in employment (in thousands)

 

With job gains (seasonally adjusted)

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102 102 100 102

With job losses (seasonally adjusted)

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108 108 109 106

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Business Employment Dynamics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages)

Productivity

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data
3rd quarter
2007
4th quarter
2007
1st quarter
2008
2nd quarter
2008

Output per hour index (seasonally adjusted)

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180.636 182.505 183.971 182.960

Percent change from previous quarter

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4.5 4.2 3.3 -2.2

Hours index (seasonally adjusted)

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83.692 82.751 81.910 81.597

Percent change from previous quarter

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-0.2 -4.4 -4.0 -1.5

Output index (seasonally adjusted)

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151.178 151.024 150.691 149.290

Percent change from previous quarter

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4.3 -0.4 -0.9 -3.7

Unit labor costs (seasonally adjusted)

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97.636 98.465 98.592 100.085

Percent change from previous quarter

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-4.4 3.4 0.5 6.2

(Source: Productivity and Costs)

Other BLS Resources

The Editor's Desk

See manufacturing and industry studies in the subject matter index of The Editor's Desk (Current Edition).

Monthly Labor Review

See manufacturing in the Index of the Monthly Labor Review Online (Current Issue).

Career Guide to Industries

To learn about careers from an industry perspective, see the Career Guide to Industries.

 

Data extracted on: September 16, 2008