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.

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	May 2012	Jun. 2012	Jul. 2012	Aug. 2012
Employment (in thousands)
Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)		644.8	647.2	(P) 649.6	(P) 650.4
Employment, production and nonsupervisory employees (seasonally adjusted)		487.2	488.7	(P) 490.8	(P) 491.4
Unemployment
Unemployment rate		6.4%	5.9%	5.6%	4.8%
Layoffs
Mass layoff events		5	5	38	13
Initial claimants for unemployment benefits		300	374	3,999	1,198
Footnotes (P) Preliminary

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

Employment by Occupation

Data series	Employment, 2011
Extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	31,570
Extruding, forming, pressing, and compacting machine setters, operators, and tenders	19,530
First-line supervisors/managers of production and operating workers	28,270
Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers	23,460
Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	52,210
Packers and packagers, hand	26,290
Team assemblers	41,850

(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 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	Back data	May 2012	Jun. 2012	Jul. 2012	Aug. 2012
Average hourly earnings		$19.93	$19.96	(P) $20.29	(P) $19.96
Average weekly hours		41.1	40.9	(P) 41.2	(P) 40.9
Footnotes (P) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings and Hours of Production and Nonsupervisory Employees

Data series	Back data	May 2012	Jun. 2012	Jul. 2012	Aug. 2012
Average hourly earnings		$15.84	$15.93	(P) $16.16	(P) $16.12
Average weekly hours		41.9	41.8	(P) 41.8	(P) 41.4
Footnotes (P) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings by Occupation

Data series	Wages, 2011
	Hourly		Annual
	Median	Mean	Median	Mean
Extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	$14.52	$15.13	$30,210	$31,470
Extruding, forming, pressing, and compacting machine setters, operators, and tenders	$14.46	$15.46	$30,080	$32,150
First-line supervisors/managers of production and operating workers	$23.88	$25.19	$49,670	$52,400
Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers	$14.62	$15.88	$30,410	$33,020
Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	$12.22	$13.15	$25,410	$27,360
Packers and packagers, hand	$10.71	$11.32	$22,270	$23,540
Team assemblers	$12.61	$13.19	$26,220	$27,440

(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	2008	2009	2010	2011
Fatalities
Number of fatalities	21	19	10	(P) 7
Rate of injury and illness cases per 100 full-time workers
Total recordable cases	5.7	(1) 4.8	(1) 5.1
Cases involving days away from work, job restriction, or transfer	3.2	(1) 2.7	(1) 3.0
Cases involving days away from work	1.4	(1) 1.2	(1) 1.3
Cases involving days of job transfer or restriction	1.8	(1) 1.5	(1) 1.7
Footnotes (1) Industry scope changed in 2009 (P) Preliminary
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 2012	Jun. 2012	Jul. 2012	Aug. 2012
Producer price index		(P) 181.9	(P) 181.5	(P) 181.1	(P) 179.9
Percent change from previous month		(P) 0.4%	(P) -0.2%	(P) -0.2%	(P) -0.7%
Import index		(R) 127.8	127.7	(R) 127.4	127.3
Percent change from previous month		(R) 0.2%	(R) -0.1%	(R) -0.2%	(R) -0.1%
Export index		117.8	117.8	117.3	117.3
Percent change from previous month		0.1%	0.0%	-0.4%	0.0%
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	2nd quarter 2011	3rd quarter 2011	4th quarter 2011	1st quarter 2012
Number of establishments
Private industry		13,196	13,219	13,172	(P) 13,068
Local government		1	1	1	(P) 1
State government
Footnotes (P) Preliminary

(Source: Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages)

Productivity

Data series	Back data	2007	2008	2009	2010
Labor productivity index, output per hour		107.117	101.740	101.635	107.159
Percent change from previous year		-1.5	-5.0	-0.1	5.4
Labor index, total labor hours		91.092	87.250	72.861	75.458
Percent change from previous year		-1.2	-4.2	-16.5	3.6
Output index		97.575	88.768	74.052	80.860
Percent change from previous year		-2.7	-9.0	-16.6	9.2
Unit labor costs index		106.313	110.940	115.264	110.254
Percent change from previous year		3.8	4.4	3.9	-4.3

(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: September 27, 2012