There has been lots of data indicating that domestic manufacturing is regaining some vigor after years of wasting away. Brookings’ Martin Neil Baily and Bruce Katz, writing in the Washington Post, noted:
Manufacturing employment, output and exports are headed in the right direction: In April, the number of U.S. manufacturing jobs was up 489,000 from the January 2010 low of 11.5 million. The Institute of Supply Management’s manufacturing index has shown 33 consecutive months of expansion.
Some of this growth may be due to re-shoring efforts. This CNBC article mentions Chesapeake Bay Candle, which outsourced much of its manufacturing workforce 17 years ago and is starting to bring them back. Here is an excerpt:
A survey by the Boston Consulting Group in February found more than one-third of U.S.-based manufacturing executives at companies with sales greater than $1 billion are either planning or considering bringing production back to the United States from China.
To inform the discussion a bit more, we tapped into our database and pulled all of the 4-digit NAICS manufacturing sectors (86 in all) to learn more about the recent growth. From the end of 2010 to the end of 2011, our data tells us that the 4-digit manufacturing sectors added just over 200,000 jobs. NOTE: This is less than the Brookings research shows, but we are likely looking at slightly different timeframes and datasets.
Job Winners
The industries that gained the most jobs in one year didn’t necessarily go through the roof, but considering what they went through over the previous nine or 10 years, it is safe to say that the trends we are seeing now are pretty significant. Prior to 2010, pretty much every manufacturing sub-sector experienced significant decline. Domestic machinery manufacturing especially stands out. Several sub-sectors gained a healthy number of jobs last year.
Ag, construction and mining machinery manufacturing (NAICS 3331) gained nearly 14,000 new jobs (7% employment growth) and now employs 218,000. From 2001 to 2009, this industry declined by 3%, shedding 7,500 jobs.
Other machinery manufacturing (NAICS 3339, a catch-all industry) gained 12,000 new jobs (5% employment growth) and now employs 237,000. From 2001 to 2009, this industry declined by 26%, shedding 85,000 jobs.
Metalworking machinery manufacturing (NAICS 3335) gained 11,000 new jobs (7% employment growth) and now employs 166,000. From 2001 to 2009, this industry declined by 37%, shedding 91,000 jobs.
All told, these three sectors added some 37,000 jobs in one year, which is great considering that they actually lost 184,000 over the previous nine years.
Of all the 4-digit sectors, machine shops (NAICS 3327) gained the most new jobs in one year — about 22,000 jobs or 7% employment growth. There are now some 330,000 employed in this sector. From 2001 to 2009, this industry declined by 11% and shed 38,000 jobs.
Motor vehicle part manufacturing (NAICS 3363) added 20,000 jobs, which was 3% growth. There are now 435,500 employed in this industry. From 2001 to 2009, this industry declined 46% (a loss of 356,000 jobs).
Semiconductor manufacturing (NAICS 3344) did well by adding 17,000 new jobs, which represents 4% growth. There are now 386,000 jobs in this sector. From 2001 to 2009, this industry declined by 41% (a loss of 266,000 jobs).
Finally, aerospace products manufacturing (NAICS 3364) gained 13,000 jobs, which is 3% growth. The current job count stands at 488,000. From 2001 to 2009, this industry declined by 3% (a loss of 14,000 jobs).
The big thing to note here is how much of this is related to advanced manufacturing.
Fastest-Growing
Audio and visual equipment manufacturing (NAICS 3343) had the fastest overall growth from 2010-2011. The big thing to note is that from 2001-2009 the industry actually lost more than half (53%) of its total workforce, a total of 25,000 jobs. During 2011, it managed to gain back 12% or 2,360 jobs. We’d say that a one-year rebound like that is great news after such a huge loss.
After that, steel product manufacturing (NAICS 3312), which lost 17,000 jobs (-25%) since 2001, had 10% employment growth and added over 5,000 jobs from 2010-11, and foundries (NAICS 3315), which lost 86,000 jobs (-43%), grew by 9% and added nearly 10,000 jobs.
Highest-Paying
With an average industry earnings level of $140,000 per year (keep in mind this is averaging the wages and salaries of all workers in the industry together), computer and peripheral equipment manufacturing (NAICS 3341) has the highest earnings. From 2001 to 2009, the industry lost 41% of its workforce or 118,000 jobs. In 2011, it grew by 6%, adding 9,400 jobs.
After that comes pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing (NAICS 3254) and petroleum and coal products manufacturing (NAICS 3241), which both average about $102,000 per year. Neither of these final two sectors grew last year.
Biggest Losers
Despite the overall growth, some industries are still in decline.
Printing and related support activities (NAICS 3231) lost 21,000 jobs in one year (-4%), which was the biggest loss of any 4-digit sector. The biggest loser in percent terms was apparel knitting mills (NAICS 3151), which lost 10% of its workforce.
Below is the complete data table of all 86 sectors.
Description
2010 Jobs
2011 Jobs
Change
% Change
2011 Avg. Annual Wage
Total
11,487,828
11,690,458
202,630
0.02
$59,138
Machine Shops; Turned Product; and Screw, Nut, and Bolt Manufacturing
311,123
332,817
21,694
7%
$48,785
Motor Vehicle Parts Manufacturing
415,180
435,493
20,313
5%
$55,050
Semiconductor and Other Electronic Component Manufacturing
369,879
386,407
16,528
4%
$88,772
Agriculture, Construction, and Mining Machinery Manufacturing
203,837
217,594
13,757
7%
$70,602
Aerospace Product and Parts Manufacturing
475,009
487,886
12,877
3%
$87,430
Other General Purpose Machinery Manufacturing
225,257
237,315
12,058
5%
$61,266
Metalworking Machinery Manufacturing
155,031
166,188
11,157
7%
$53,903
Foundries
111,056
121,031
9,975
9%
$50,014
Computer and Peripheral Equipment Manufacturing
158,879
168,224
9,345
6%
$140,228
Other Fabricated Metal Product Manufacturing
245,850
254,972
9,122
4%
$55,840
Architectural and Structural Metals Manufacturing
319,567
327,843
8,276
3%
$46,489
Coating, Engraving, Heat Treating, and Allied Activities
121,460
128,481
7,021
6%
$43,415
Beverage Manufacturing
167,187
173,497
6,310
4%
$51,120
Ventilation, Heating, Air-Conditioning, and Commercial Refrigeration Equipment Manufacturing
125,870
132,160
6,290
5%
$49,587
Ship and Boat Building
123,574
129,773
6,199
5%
$56,065
Industrial Machinery Manufacturing
97,824
103,848
6,024
6%
$71,912
Motor Vehicle Manufacturing
152,736
158,707
5,971
4%
$79,407
Engine, Turbine, and Power Transmission Equipment Manufacturing
90,970
96,758
5,788
6%
$72,697
Motor Vehicle Body and Trailer Manufacturing
108,962
114,439
5,477
5%
$44,994
Forging and Stamping
88,269
93,647
5,378
6%
$52,770
Steel Product Manufacturing from Purchased Steel
52,287
57,449
5,162
10%
$57,738
Nonferrous Metal (except Aluminum) Production and Processing
58,036
62,360
4,324
7%
$61,286
Plastics Product Manufacturing
501,678
505,984
4,306
1%
$45,499
Other Electrical Equipment and Component Manufacturing
117,847
122,012
4,165
4%
$58,774
Boiler, Tank, and Shipping Container Manufacturing
84,588
88,693
4,105
5%
$57,507
Converted Paper Product Manufacturing
281,187
284,673
3,486
1%
$53,341
Alumina and Aluminum Production and Processing
54,054
57,539
3,485
6%
$58,638
Medical Equipment and Supplies Manufacturing
303,297
306,341
3,044
1%
$61,515
Electrical Equipment Manufacturing
134,318
136,968
2,650
2%
$63,766
Audio and Video Equipment Manufacturing
20,042
22,402
2,360
12%
$79,151
Basic Chemical Manufacturing
140,942
143,045
2,103
1%
$88,113
Fabric Mills
54,021
56,110
2,089
4%
$41,628
Other Miscellaneous Manufacturing
263,116
265,031
1,915
1%
$46,223
Iron and Steel Mills and Ferroalloy Manufacturing
85,954
87,603
1,649
2%
$73,636
Cut and Sew Apparel Manufacturing
125,398
126,937
1,539
1%
$36,150
Manufacturing and Reproducing Magnetic and Optical Media
25,002
26,425
1,423
6%
$85,820
Other Transportation Equipment Manufacturing
33,191
34,547
1,356
4%
$63,123
Railroad Rolling Stock Manufacturing
18,402
19,752
1,350
7%
$62,647
Office Furniture (including Fixtures) Manufacturing
96,048
97,283
1,235
1%
$44,807
Commercial and Service Industry Machinery Manufacturing
92,184
93,335
1,151
1%
$64,827
Bakeries and Tortilla Manufacturing
276,593
277,718
1,125
0%
$35,578
Rubber Product Manufacturing
121,591
122,587
996
1%
$51,487
Resin, Synthetic Rubber, and Artificial Synthetic Fibers and Filaments Manufacturing
89,107
90,092
985
1%
$78,720
Footwear Manufacturing
13,148
13,863
715
5%
$35,261
Cutlery and Handtool Manufacturing
40,141
40,830
689
2%
$54,144
Paint, Coating, and Adhesive Manufacturing
55,883
56,555
672
1%
$64,627
Pharmaceutical and Medicine Manufacturing
278,781
279,434
653
0%
$102,299
Pesticide, Fertilizer, and Other Agricultural Chemical Manufacturing
35,755
36,407
652
2%
$73,502
Other Leather and Allied Product Manufacturing
10,934
11,557
623
6%
$35,423
Animal Food Manufacturing
51,602
52,172
570
1%
$52,176
Spring and Wire Product Manufacturing
42,338
42,813
475
1%
$45,935
Electric Lighting Equipment Manufacturing
45,298
45,750
452
1%
$52,943
Sugar and Confectionery Product Manufacturing
66,412
66,834
422
1%
$46,306
Hardware Manufacturing
23,529
23,867
338
1%
$53,447
Dairy Product Manufacturing
130,203
130,532
329
0%
$50,968
Leather and Hide Tanning and Finishing
4,015
4,311
296
7%
$44,342
Soap, Cleaning Compound, and Toilet Preparation Manufacturing
100,840
101,045
205
0%
$63,366
Other Nonmetallic Mineral Product Manufacturing
65,438
65,575
137
0%
$49,114
Other Chemical Product and Preparation Manufacturing
84,148
84,261
113
0%
$62,910
Grain and Oilseed Milling
58,689
58,669
-20
0%
$61,858
Sawmills and Wood Preservation
82,512
82,459
-53
0%
$38,074
Textile and Fabric Finishing and Fabric Coating Mills
36,210
36,151
-59
0%
$41,847
Lime and Gypsum Product Manufacturing
13,483
13,408
-75
-1%
$55,548
Clay Product and Refractory Manufacturing
40,381
40,289
-92
0%
$47,440
Other Food Manufacturing
163,346
163,230
-116
0%
$51,728
Other Furniture Related Product Manufacturing
36,427
36,300
-127
0%
$39,650
Pulp, Paper, and Paperboard Mills
111,661
111,144
-517
0%
$74,825
Glass and Glass Product Manufacturing
78,991
78,420
-571
-1%
$51,877
Apparel Accessories and Other Apparel Manufacturing
13,699
12,973
-726
-5%
$35,757
Tobacco Manufacturing
16,251
15,510
-741
-5%
$95,669
Petroleum and Coal Products Manufacturing
110,968
110,014
-954
-1%
$101,861
Fiber, Yarn, and Thread Mills
29,142
28,113
-1,029
-4%
$34,390
Household Appliance Manufacturing
58,658
57,563
-1,095
-2%
$53,698
Other Textile Product Mills
61,833
60,658
-1,175
-2%
$32,955
Fruit and Vegetable Preserving and Specialty Food Manufacturing
173,410
172,057
-1,353
-1%
$42,885
Animal Slaughtering and Processing
485,619
484,061
-1,558
0%
$33,217
Apparel Knitting Mills
18,521
16,702
-1,819
-10%
$35,513
Cement and Concrete Product Manufacturing
169,820
167,189
-2,631
-2%
$46,464
Veneer, Plywood, and Engineered Wood Product Manufacturing
63,204
60,319
-2,885
-5%
$40,514
Navigational, Measuring, Electromedical, and Control Instruments Manufacturing
407,365
404,342
-3,023
-1%
$89,109
Other Wood Product Manufacturing
193,833
190,791
-3,042
-2%
$34,431
Textile Furnishings Mills
57,300
54,100
-3,200
-6%
$36,515
Seafood Product Preparation and Packaging
36,471
33,132
-3,339
-9%
$37,983
Communications Equipment Manufacturing
115,861
111,978
-3,883
-3%
$98,379
Household and Institutional Furniture and Kitchen Cabinet Manufacturing
223,590
218,463
-5,127
-2%
$34,868
Printing and Related Support Activities
485,717
464,657
-21,060
-4%
$43,810
State-by-State
As is our custom in posts like this, we like to provide a state-by-state breakdown. To do this we aggregated all 86 industries together and looked at the distribution of these jobs by state. Here are the results.
The good news is that 40 out of 51 states (including Washington, D.C.) gained manufacturing jobs.
Oklahoma had the best single year percentage growth (9%) for manufacturing and added nearly 11,000 new jobs. Its current tally of manufacturing jobs is 133,500. Texas added the most new jobs, 23,000, and Michigan was second with 21,000. Current employment levels in each state are 833,000 and 497,000, respectively.
California employs the most, 1.2 million, and grew by 1% or 10,000 jobs in 2011.
Indiana and Wisconsin have the highest concentration of manufacturing jobs. Both are nearly twice the national average, and both employ roughly 450,000 manufacturing workers.
D.C. has the highest pay (averaging nearly $100,000 per year) but very few manufacturing jobs (about 1,000). Massachusetts, which has 260,000 manufacturing jobs and grew by 2% last year, has the second highest average industry earnings ($78,000).
Ten states lost jobs. New Jersey was the biggest loser with -8,100 jobs (3% decline). After New Jersey comes Arkansas, which lost 5,100 jobs (-3%) and New York, which dropped 3,500 jobs (-1%).
The data for each state is below.
State Name
2010 Jobs
2011 Jobs
% Change
2011 Avg. Annual Wage
2010 National Location Quotient (Average is 1.00)
Total
11,487,828
11,690,458
0.02
$59,138
Oklahoma
122,790
133,524
9%
$47,547
0.91
Utah
110,240
116,542
6%
$50,210
1.07
Louisiana
137,263
145,003
6%
$61,321
0.83
South Carolina
207,789
219,353
6%
$51,111
1.3
Washington
254,839
266,538
5%
$68,111
1
Michigan
475,226
496,576
4%
$61,671
1.42
Missouri
243,033
253,599
4%
$50,367
1.05
Arizona
147,905
154,034
4%
$68,224
0.7
Iowa
200,797
207,870
4%
$50,659
1.57
South Dakota
36,963
38,208
3%
$40,746
1.04
Idaho
53,103
54,797
3%
$51,351
0.97
Kansas
159,776
164,868
3%
$51,944
1.35
Nebraska
91,598
94,376
3%
$43,020
1.13
Texas
810,074
833,421
3%
$65,352
0.89
Kentucky
209,263
215,162
3%
$50,610
1.33
Wisconsin
429,233
439,887
2%
$51,403
1.83
Ohio
620,422
635,427
2%
$54,371
1.42
Pennsylvania
560,428
572,069
2%
$55,099
1.15
Vermont
30,796
31,431
2%
$54,094
1.17
Illinois
559,975
570,941
2%
$61,073
1.14
Massachusetts
254,462
259,117
2%
$78,315
0.91
Wyoming
8,710
8,858
2%
$53,439
0.35
Tennessee
298,290
303,357
2%
$52,828
1.31
Florida
307,489
311,391
1%
$52,500
0.48
Minnesota
292,048
295,448
1%
$57,855
1.28
North Dakota
22,548
22,803
1%
$43,695
0.68
Indiana
447,514
452,536
1%
$55,692
1.85
Alabama
236,259
238,796
1%
$49,608
1.44
Virginia
229,864
231,927
1%
$52,845
0.7
California
1,235,043
1,244,965
1%
$75,079
0.95
Oregon
163,179
164,466
1%
$60,036
1.14
North Carolina
431,536
434,259
1%
$52,551
1.24
New Mexico
29,019
29,194
1%
$53,901
0.41
West Virginia
49,066
49,307
0%
$51,340
0.79
Georgia
343,354
344,947
0%
$51,640
1.01
Connecticut
165,636
166,385
0%
$76,876
1.17
New Hampshire
65,760
66,055
0%
$62,446
1.23
Colorado
125,494
126,028
0%
$61,496
0.63
Delaware
26,137
26,120
0%
$57,090
0.72
Rhode Island
40,328
40,216
0%
$50,621
1.01
Hawaii
12,913
12,873
0%
$40,153
0.23
New York
455,654
452,083
-1%
$61,365
0.61
Maine
50,672
50,234
-1%
$50,836
0.98
Mississippi
135,901
134,099
-1%
$41,709
1.39
Maryland
115,097
113,196
-2%
$66,776
0.51
Montana
16,386
15,942
-3%
$42,569
0.43
New Jersey
255,906
247,809
-3%
$75,142
0.77
Arkansas
160,159
155,012
-3%
$40,584
1.57
Nevada
37,888
36,329
-4%
$51,492
0.38
Alaska
12,735
11,912
-6%
$42,559
0.42
District of Columbia
1,272
1,168
-8%
$97,287
0.02
Conclusion
Folks who watch the economy tend to pay a lot of attention to manufacturing. This is because manufacturing of all types and sizes produces a lot of jobs and, as export-based sectors, bring much-needed dollars into the economy.
This data offers some glimmers of hope for a very large sector that has been the constant bearer of bad news for as long as anyone can remember. More companies are opting for domestic production and the products they produce (like heavy machinery) are seeing good domestic and worldwide demand.
In this analysis some of the big winners appear to be machine shops, machinery manufacturers, audio/visual products, aerospace, foundries, metal working, and computer related manufacturing. Let us know if you’d like to learn more about any of the states or sectors we covered.
Rob Sentz is the marketing director at EMSI, an Idaho-based economics firm that provides data and analysis to workforce boards, economic development agencies, higher education institutions and the private sector. He is the author of a series of green jobs white papers. For more, contact Rob Sentz (rob@economicmodeling.com). You can also reach us via Twitter @DesktopEcon.
Illustrations by Mark Beauchamp.