Written by: Tom Mesenbourg, Acting Director
This week, we celebrate our manufacturing statistics in anticipation of not only the first-ever Manufacturing Day, but also the beginning of the 2012 Economic Census.
This month, we will begin mailing forms to millions of businesses throughout the country for the 2012 Economic Census — the official five-year measure of the American economy. This census serves as the foundation for the gross domestic product (GDP) and other indicators of economic performance, including several timely measures of manufacturing activity.
Today has been designated as the first-ever Manufacturing Day and gives us an opportunity to highlight our manufacturing statistics as we look ahead to the economic census. We are joining a group of public and private organizations in celebrating American manufacturing by highlighting our statistics.
So what do our statistics tell us about U.S. manufacturing? According to the 2010 County Business patterns:
1. Manufacturing was the fourth largest U.S. employer among economic sectors in 2010, behind only health care and social assistance, retail trade, and accommodation and food services. The top five states in terms of manufacturing employment in 2010 were: California, Texas, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Illinois.
2. As of March 12, 2010, there were 10.9 million manufacturing employees with an annual payroll of $550.4 billion. The average annual payroll per employee in manufacturing was $50,700 in 2010.
3. In 25 states, manufacturing is one of the top three employers. The 141,831 manufacturing establishments in these states employ more than 6 million people with nearly $293 billion in annual payroll.
Other Census Bureau statistics tell us even more about American manufacturing – according to the 2010 Annual Survey of Manufactures, the total value of shipments was an estimated $4.9 trillion in 2010. The Profile of Exporters/Importers: 2009-2010, showed that 60 percent of the known value of U.S. exports in 2010 came from manufacturing.
While today is manufacturing day, we collect statistics year-round at the Census Bureau on the manufacturing sector of our economy. These statistics, when combined with other Census Bureau information can help manufacturers learn about their industries and communities, information that can help them grow their businesses. Check out our monthly manufacturing indicator, as well as a host of other current measures of economic activity on your Apple or Android device by downloading our new mobile app, “America’s Economy.”
You can learn more about of our manufacturing statistics by watching the archived C-SPAN’s Washington Journal “America by the Numbers” segment on manufacturing. In addition, visit business.census.gov to learn more about the 2012 Economic Census and be sure to check out our infographic on U.S. manufacturing.