7 Facts: The Rapidly Vanishing U.S. Manufacturing Worker
The share of jobs held in the manufacturing sector continue to fall in the United States.
February 2, 2015
1. In 2012, the U.S. manufacturing sector — which includes companies that make physical goods, such as furniture, appliances, cars and aircraft — accounted for just 8.2% of U.S. employment.
2. That was the equivalent of 11.9 million jobs.
3. A decade earlier, in 2002, the U.S. manufacturing sector accounted for 10.7% of the workforce (a 30% higher share of GDP), or 15.3 million jobs (30% more jobs).
4. From 2002 to 2012, the U.S. manufacturing sector lost 3.4 jobs – or almost 30% of its total employment.
5. While part of this decline is attributable to the 2009-10 recession, it is also part of a much a longer-term trend.
6. U.S. manufacturing employment peaked in 1979, when the sector accounted for almost 20 million jobs.
7. Put another way, the number of manufacturing jobs fell by 40% between 1979 and 2012 — even as the U.S. population grew by 40% (from 225 million to 314 million).
Data source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the U.S. Census Bureau
Takeaways
The share of jobs held in the manufacturing sector continue to fall in the United States.
The number of manufacturing jobs in the US fell by 40% between 1979 and 2012, even as the US population rose by 40%.
From 2002 to 2012, the U.S. manufacturing sector lost 3.4 jobs - or almost 30% of its total employment.
