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

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 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, mass layoffs, data for occupations common to the industry, and projections of occupational employment change.

Employment, Unemployment, and Layoffs

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

Employment (in thousands)

 

Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)

Jump to page with historical data
733.9 730.2 (P) 726.6 (P) 722.3

Employment, production workers (seasonally adjusted)

Jump to page with historical data
576.9 574.2 (P) 570.8 (P) 566.0

Unemployment

 

Unemployment rate

Jump to page with historical data
5.2% 11.4% 11.1% 8.5%

Layoffs

 

Mass layoff events

Jump to page with historical data
8 62 30  

Initial claimants for unemployment benefits

Jump to page with historical data
960 6,804 3,625  

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics, Current Population Survey, Mass Layoff Statistics)

Employment by Occupation

Data series Employment,
2007

Extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

40,000

Extruding, forming, pressing, and compacting machine setters, operators, and tenders

23,500

First-line supervisors/managers of production and operating workers

34,080

Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers

26,710

Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

64,930

Packers and packagers, hand

31,010

Team assemblers

49,340

(Source: Occupational Employment 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 for production or nonsupervisory employees 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 Production Workers

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

Average hourly earnings

Jump to page with historical data
$15.69 $15.84 (P) $15.87 (P) $15.94

Average weekly hours

Jump to page with historical data
41.1 41.3 (P) 41.3 (P) 40.9

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings by Occupation

Data series Wages, 2007
Hourly Annual
Median Mean Median Mean

Extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

$13.12 $13.74 $27,290 $28,580

Extruding, forming, pressing, and compacting machine setters, operators, and tenders

$13.42 $14.02 $27,910 $29,160

First-line supervisors/managers of production and operating workers

$21.65 $22.82 $45,020 $47,460

Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers

$13.56 $14.47 $28,210 $30,110

Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

$11.84 $12.61 $24,630 $26,240

Packers and packagers, hand

$10.06 $10.51 $20,920 $21,860

Team assemblers

$11.47 $12.33 $23,850 $25,650

(Source: Occupational Employment 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 2004 2005 2006 2007

Fatalities

 

Number of fatalities

25 24 13 (P) 20

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

 

Total recordable cases

7.7 7.1 6.8  

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

4.7 4.1 3.9  

Cases involving days away from work

2.0 1.7 1.6  

Cases involving days of job transfer or restriction

2.7 2.4 2.3  

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.

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

Producer price index

Jump to page with historical data
(P) 158.5 (P) 159.5 (P) 162.7 (P) 165.0

Percent change from previous month

 

(P) 1.1% (P) 0.6% (P) 2.0% (P) 1.4%

Import index

Jump to page with historical data
110.6 111.2 (R) 113.5 114.1

Percent change from previous month

 

0.9% 0.5% (R) 2.1% (R) 0.5%

Export index

Jump to page with historical data
(R) 108.2 (R) 109.4 (R) 110.5 111.0

Percent change from previous month

 

(R) 0.3% (R) 1.1% (R) 1.0% (R) 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 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 Back
data
1st quarter
2007
2nd quarter
2007
3rd quarter
2007
4th quarter
2007

Number of establishments

 

Private industry

Jump to page with historical data
(P) 13,778 (P) 13,789 (P) 13,779 (P) 13,761

Local government

Jump to page with historical data
(P) 1 (P) 1 (P) 1 (P) 1

State government

Jump to page with historical data
       

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages)

Productivity

Data series Back
data
2003 2004 2005 2006

Labor productivity index, output per hour

Jump to page with historical data
126.025 128.688 132.618 132.823

Percent change from previous year

Jump to page with historical data
4.3 2.1 3.1 0.2

Labor index, total labor hours

Jump to page with historical data
85.305 84.626 83.016 82.288

Percent change from previous year

Jump to page with historical data
-4.2 -0.8 -1.9 -0.9

Output index

Jump to page with historical data
107.506 108.904 110.094 109.297

Percent change from previous year

Jump to page with historical data
0.0 1.3 1.1 -0.7

Unit labor costs index

Jump to page with historical data
103.081 101.457 102.579 104.361

Percent change from previous year

Jump to page with historical data
0.4 -1.6 1.1 1.7

(Source: Productivity and Costs)

Other BLS Resources

Career Guide to Industries

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

 

Data extracted on: October 08, 2008