{ "id": "R41898", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "number": "R41898", "active": true, "source": "EveryCRSReport.com, University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "versions": [ { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 602557, "date": "2019-07-19", "retrieved": "2019-07-20T22:15:03.993618", "title": "Job Creation in the Manufacturing Revival", "summary": "The health of the U.S. manufacturing sector is of ongoing interest to Congress. Numerous bills aimed at promoting manufacturing are introduced in each Congress, often with the stated goal of creating jobs. Implicit in many of these bills is the assumption that the manufacturing sector is uniquely able to provide well-paid employment for workers who have not pursued education beyond high school.\nDefinitional issues have made it more challenging to assess the state of the manufacturing sector. Lines between manufacturing and other economic sectors are increasingly blurred. Many workers in fields such as industrial design and information technology perform work closely related to manufacturing, but are usually counted as employees in other sectors unless their workplace is within a manufacturing facility. Temporary workers in factories typically are employed by third parties and not treated as manufacturing workers in government data. Further, technology, apparel, and footwear firms that design and market manufactured goods but contract out production to separately owned factories are not considered to be manufacturers, even though many of their activities may be identical to those performed within manufacturing firms. \nThis report addresses the outlook for employment in the manufacturing sector. Its main conclusions are the following: \nU.S. manufacturing output has risen approximately 24% since the most recent low point in 2009. However, most of that expansion occurred prior to the end of 2014. Manufacturing output was relatively flat in 2015 and 2016, and after rising modestly in 2017 and 2018 has again flattened out. Manufacturers have added approximately half a million jobs since the start of 2017, but manufacturing employment continues to decline as a share of total employment. \nWages for production and nonsupervisory workers in manufacturing, on average, have declined relative to wages of nonsupervisory workers in other industries. Although workers in some manufacturing industries earn relatively high wages, the assertion that manufacturing as a whole provides better-paid jobs than the rest of the economy is increasingly difficult to support.\nEmployment in millions, output indexed 2012=100\n/\nSources: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current\nEmployment Survey, and Federal Reserve Board,\nIndustrial Production Index. Seasonally adjusted.\n\nManufacturers spend more per work-hour for employee benefits than private employers in other industries, but the manufacturing benefit premium has diminished significantly in recent years.\nA declining proportion of manufacturing workers is involved in physical production processes, while larger shares perform managerial and professional tasks. Many routine manufacturing tasks are now performed by contract workers, whose wages are lower than those of manufacturing firms\u2019 employees in similar occupations. These changes are reflected in increasing skill requirements at manufacturing firms and diminished opportunities for workers without education beyond high school.\nThe average number of new manufacturing establishments opened each year since the end of the last recession remains much lower than in the period between 1977 and 2009. Unlike in the service sector, few jobs in manufacturing are provided by new establishments. Conversely, plant closings are responsible for only a small share of jobs lost. Change in manufacturing employment overwhelmingly occurs through hiring or job reductions at existing facilities.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": true, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "https://www.crs.gov/Reports/R41898", "sha1": "1ed2037f4e5343cf8f30c4740afa11e46af3d9fb", "filename": "files/20190719_R41898_1ed2037f4e5343cf8f30c4740afa11e46af3d9fb.html", "images": { "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R41898_files&id=/1.png": "files/20190719_R41898_images_006172307e0824f857855a9d0a68bc4bb6fe3731.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R41898_files&id=/7.png": "files/20190719_R41898_images_0ac757861a1b27f475d2d785076524ba1ca02444.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R41898_files&id=/4.png": "files/20190719_R41898_images_6f0b19213a7dd55c0d3b917468e97d59e9aedc8e.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R41898_files&id=/0.png": "files/20190719_R41898_images_73f6ef32ad4ca9ebd9a6bedbbb21f23d4646d05f.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R41898_files&id=/5.png": "files/20190719_R41898_images_b7ff91b5f6163a39422cc590180b52542e042f1e.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R41898_files&id=/9.png": "files/20190719_R41898_images_4639d9c6e8ff371fe90b7e6ded933e800392b6b2.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R41898_files&id=/8.png": "files/20190719_R41898_images_44b8760bb7e38c430e8dbc784bdb8a9cf201f1c5.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R41898_files&id=/3.png": "files/20190719_R41898_images_28da9c96c9a90518d26fc2f149d99d9b24ffca42.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R41898_files&id=/6.png": "files/20190719_R41898_images_c761c08222c850474c76904d2508691e89a15ff6.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R41898_files&id=/2.png": "files/20190719_R41898_images_cedc04e3c5e26bd04ce9e1b1bb51ecddae55dba5.png" } }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "https://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/R41898", "sha1": "6dc0958aa5b5fd867ea24ad58b49472a7a077743", "filename": "files/20190719_R41898_6dc0958aa5b5fd867ea24ad58b49472a7a077743.pdf", "images": {} } ], "topics": [ { "source": "IBCList", "id": 4806, "name": "Manufacturing Policy" } ] }, { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 584202, "date": "2018-05-15", "retrieved": "2019-04-18T14:24:53.241259", "title": "Job Creation in the Manufacturing Revival", "summary": "The health of the U.S. manufacturing sector is of ongoing interest to Congress. Numerous bills aimed at promoting manufacturing are introduced in each Congress, often with the stated goal of creating jobs. Implicit in many of these bills is the assumption that the manufacturing sector is uniquely able to provide well-paid employment for workers who have not pursued education beyond high school.\nLines between manufacturing and other economic sectors are increasingly blurred. Many workers in fields such as industrial design and information technology perform work closely related to manufacturing, but are usually counted as employees in other sectors unless their workplace is within a manufacturing facility. Temporary workers in factories typically are employed by third parties and not treated as manufacturing workers in government data. Further, technology, apparel, and footwear firms that design and market manufactured goods but contract out production to separately owned factories are not considered to be manufacturers, even though many of their activities may be identical to those performed within manufacturing firms. These definitional issues have made it more challenging to assess the state of the manufacturing sector.\nThis report addresses the outlook for employment in the manufacturing sector. Its main conclusions are the following: \nU.S. manufacturing output has risen approximately 22% since the most recent low point in 2009, but almost all of that expansion occurred prior to the end of 2014. Increased manufacturing activity has resulted in modest growth of employment in the manufacturing sector, a trend that seems likely to persist even if manufacturing output continues to expand.\nWages for production and nonsupervisory workers in manufacturing, on average, have declined relative to wages of similar workers in other industries. Although workers in some manufacturing industries earn relatively high wages, the assertion that manufacturing as a whole provides better jobs than the rest of the economy is increasingly difficult to support.\nManufacturers spend more per work-hour for worker benefits than private employers in other industries, but the difference has diminished in recent years.\nA declining proportion of manufacturing workers is involved in physical production processes, while larger shares perform managerial and professional tasks. Many routine manufacturing tasks are now performed by contract workers, whose wages are lower than those of manufacturing firms\u2019 employees in similar occupations. These changes are reflected in increasing skill requirements at manufacturing firms and diminished opportunities for workers without education beyond high school.\nThe average number of new manufacturing establishments opened each year since the end of the last recession remains much lower than in the period between 1977 and 2009. Unlike in the service sector, few jobs in manufacturing are provided by new establishments. Conversely, plant closings are responsible for only a small share of jobs lost. Change in manufacturing employment overwhelmingly occurs through hiring or job reductions at existing facilities.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": true, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "https://www.crs.gov/Reports/R41898", "sha1": "333369a84436831774a1ff4d0aba92b6c9aaf97a", "filename": "files/20180515_R41898_333369a84436831774a1ff4d0aba92b6c9aaf97a.html", "images": { "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R41898_files&id=/1.png": "files/20180515_R41898_images_b3d403b2d1ff1919f9383b85e7b93cbf17c877aa.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R41898_files&id=/7.png": "files/20180515_R41898_images_8f1b8d30a1dababc53bff6356d538a776b928d68.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R41898_files&id=/4.png": "files/20180515_R41898_images_c387513182daa11f4a01ee1c8293ccc4e0db32a6.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R41898_files&id=/0.png": "files/20180515_R41898_images_f141de2e6e6f0946c0de6ed469240d66860d8c8a.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R41898_files&id=/5.png": "files/20180515_R41898_images_df7fb76360a82f161153e982dff7a29a2a12b3ef.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R41898_files&id=/8.png": "files/20180515_R41898_images_9ee67bdc61ad34e34f3fe398ce9534eb799aaa87.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R41898_files&id=/3.png": "files/20180515_R41898_images_00e0e580ac363859b9f6d6fcf4ea7974d0a77a58.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R41898_files&id=/6.png": "files/20180515_R41898_images_0495979b4f2f66992490d37cac11290bb69b8738.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R41898_files&id=/2.png": "files/20180515_R41898_images_4462840bf79b9bf68ff91e45f339e79b40d20974.png" } }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "https://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/R41898", "sha1": "871083a3797be5051d9cc083978f38fcc107db8c", "filename": "files/20180515_R41898_871083a3797be5051d9cc083978f38fcc107db8c.pdf", "images": {} } ], "topics": [ { "source": "IBCList", "id": 4806, "name": "Manufacturing Policy" } ] }, { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 460953, "date": "2017-05-05", "retrieved": "2018-05-10T13:31:57.306322", "title": "Job Creation in the Manufacturing Revival", "summary": "The health of the U.S. manufacturing sector is of ongoing interest to Congress. Numerous bills aimed at promoting manufacturing are introduced in each Congress, often with the stated goal of creating jobs. Implicit in many of these bills is the assumption that the manufacturing sector is uniquely able to provide well-paid employment for workers who have not pursued education beyond high school. \nU.S. manufacturing output has risen approximately 22% since the most recent low point in 2009, but almost all of that expansion occurred prior to the end of 2014. The upswing in manufacturing activity has resulted in only relatively modest growth of employment in the manufacturing sector. Although a variety of forces seem likely to support further growth in domestic manufacturing output over the next few years, including higher labor costs in the emerging economies of Asia and increased concern about disruptions to transoceanic supply chains, evidence suggests that such a resurgence would lead to relatively small job gains within the manufacturing sector. Manufacturing wages are below those in many other industries and continue to decline in relative terms. Data taking insurance, pensions, and other employee benefits into account indicate that production workers have experienced a decline in average total compensation relative to comparable full-time workers in other occupations over the past decade.\nThe past few years have seen important changes in the nature of manufacturing work. A steadily smaller proportion of manufacturing workers is involved in physical production processes, while larger shares are engaged in managerial and professional work. These changes are reflected in increasing skill requirements for manufacturing workers and severely diminished opportunities for workers without education beyond high school. Even if increased manufacturing output leads to additional employment in the manufacturing sector, it is likely to generate little of the routine production work historically performed by workers with lower education levels. \nAs manufacturing processes have changed, factories with large numbers of workers have become much less common than they once were. This suggests that promotion of manufacturing as a tool to stimulate local economies is likely to meet with limited success; even if newly established factories prosper, few are likely to require large amounts of labor.\nThe development of large supplies of oil and natural gas from shale formations in several states has led to considerable speculation about prospects for expanded chemical manufacturing. The number of chemical plants in the United States has risen by nearly 9% since 2012, and numerous companies have announced expansions of existing plants. However, total capacity in the industry has declined over the same period as very large plants have closed or have eliminated certain production operations. In any event, chemical plants are extremely capital-intensive, and even large amounts of new investment are likely to result in the creation of relatively few jobs.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": true, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/R41898", "sha1": "ff0092f022ea11be314bfa0cad8147c0fd80a0a0", "filename": "files/20170505_R41898_ff0092f022ea11be314bfa0cad8147c0fd80a0a0.html", "images": { "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R41898_files&id=/1.png": "files/20170505_R41898_images_2a4968c0221f0e59a031536a028a72b4afa5205a.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R41898_files&id=/7.png": "files/20170505_R41898_images_47664bbdd2127eed70385f45cbc96c77809a21f8.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R41898_files&id=/4.png": "files/20170505_R41898_images_86ead65d5d5467e9ab61f6cb1eb967261579788c.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R41898_files&id=/0.png": "files/20170505_R41898_images_bdbff4827aa1b03abad65b3f07f72f1dc527c10b.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R41898_files&id=/5.png": "files/20170505_R41898_images_8aaef07b2b222cbbf2684111d33f2f685afe901a.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R41898_files&id=/9.png": "files/20170505_R41898_images_8ce5e109db7d844e13d4a4e02825a2cdc59dba1d.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R41898_files&id=/8.png": "files/20170505_R41898_images_d43f3c5b198c9dac8aa6b3eb95686190ba51260b.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R41898_files&id=/6.png": "files/20170505_R41898_images_c399ad6acea9e9b859af2b0260c3bbd67a6c304e.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R41898_files&id=/3.png": "files/20170505_R41898_images_2fa73a20b8d5b9317e78ce9978a7ee80f869413a.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R41898_files&id=/2.png": "files/20170505_R41898_images_7e99b9be851397505e7f6fb5554bb025ff58ee74.png" } }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/R41898", "sha1": "4f4fbe61d02c5a07d2514ac0971fd2486ccaedf3", "filename": "files/20170505_R41898_4f4fbe61d02c5a07d2514ac0971fd2486ccaedf3.pdf", "images": {} } ], "topics": [ { "source": "IBCList", "id": 4806, "name": "Manufacturing Policy" } ] }, { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 456250, "date": "2016-06-28", "retrieved": "2016-10-17T19:48:25.510498", "title": "Job Creation in the Manufacturing Revival", "summary": "The health of the U.S. manufacturing sector is of ongoing interest to Congress. Numerous bills aimed at promoting manufacturing have been introduced in Congress, often with the stated goal of creating jobs. Implicit in many of these bills is the assumption that the manufacturing sector is uniquely able to provide well-paid employment for workers who have not pursued advanced education.\nU.S. manufacturing output has risen approximately 9% since the most recent low point in 2009, but almost all of that expansion occurred prior to the end of 2014. The upswing in manufacturing activity has resulted in negligible employment growth. Although a variety of forces seem likely to support further growth in domestic manufacturing output over the next few years, including higher labor costs in the emerging economies of Asia and increased concern about disruptions to transoceanic supply chains, evidence suggests that such a resurgence would lead to relatively small job gains within the manufacturing sector. Manufacturing wages are below those in many other industries and continue to decline in relative terms. Data taking insurance, pensions, and other employee benefits into account indicate that production workers have experienced a decline in average total compensation relative to workers in other occupations over the past decade.\nThe past few years have seen important changes in the nature of manufacturing work. A steadily smaller proportion of manufacturing workers is involved in physical production processes, while larger shares are engaged in managerial and professional work. These changes are reflected in increasing skill requirements for manufacturing workers and severely diminished opportunities for workers without education beyond high school. Even if increased manufacturing output leads to additional employment in the manufacturing sector, it is likely to generate little of the routine production work historically performed by workers with lower education levels. \nAs manufacturing processes have changed, factories with large numbers of workers have become much less common than they once were. This suggests that promotion of manufacturing as a tool to stimulate local economies is likely to meet with limited success; even if newly established factories prosper, few are likely to require large amounts of labor.\nThe development of large supplies of oil and natural gas from shale formations in several states has led to considerable speculation about prospects for expanded chemical manufacturing. While substantial new investment has occurred in the chemical industry, many announced plants and plant expansions have been postponed or canceled. In any event, chemical plants are extremely capital-intensive, and even large amounts of new investment are likely to result in the creation of relatively few jobs.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": true, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/R41898", "sha1": "91bb2522cf3632ab8db539b270daae17f62c0e1f", "filename": "files/20160628_R41898_91bb2522cf3632ab8db539b270daae17f62c0e1f.html", "images": null }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/R41898", "sha1": "3041b930a1d5ffdd4c3bb1b3702d17d410563a9a", "filename": "files/20160628_R41898_3041b930a1d5ffdd4c3bb1b3702d17d410563a9a.pdf", "images": null } ], "topics": [ { "source": "IBCList", "id": 4806, "name": "Manufacturing Policy" } ] }, { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 442727, "date": "2015-07-02", "retrieved": "2016-04-06T18:51:05.539348", "title": "Job Creation in the Manufacturing Revival", "summary": "The health of the U.S. manufacturing sector is of ongoing interest to Congress. Numerous bills aimed at promoting manufacturing have been introduced in Congress, often with the stated goal of creating jobs. Implicit in many of these bills is the assumption that the manufacturing sector is uniquely able to provide well-paid employment for workers who have not pursued advanced education.\nU.S. manufacturing output has risen significantly over the past five years as the economy has recovered from recession. This upswing in manufacturing activity, however, has resulted in negligible employment growth. Although a variety of forces seem likely to support further growth in domestic manufacturing output over the next few years, including higher labor costs in the emerging economies of Asia, higher international freight transportation costs, and increased concern about disruptions to transoceanic supply chains, evidence suggests that such a resurgence would lead to relatively small job gains within the manufacturing sector. Manufacturing wages are below those in many other industries and are declining in relative terms, suggesting that the modest resurgence in manufacturing activity has not improved the bargaining power of workers in the manufacturing sector.\nThe past few years have seen important changes in the nature of manufacturing work. A steadily smaller proportion of manufacturing workers is involved in physical production processes, while larger shares are engaged in managerial and professional work. These changes are reflected in increasing skill requirements for manufacturing workers and severely diminished opportunities for workers without education beyond high school. Even if increased manufacturing output leads to additional employment in the manufacturing sector, it is likely to generate little of the routine production work historically performed by workers with lower education levels. \nAs manufacturing processes have changed, factories with large numbers of workers have become much less common than they once were. This suggests that promotion of manufacturing as a tool to stimulate local economies is likely to meet with limited success; even if newly established factories prosper, few are likely to require large amounts of labor.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": true, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/R41898", "sha1": "ffdedfb75fd1a452d1e0b8fe3b4b3fd7e4670cd9", "filename": "files/20150702_R41898_ffdedfb75fd1a452d1e0b8fe3b4b3fd7e4670cd9.html", "images": null }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/R41898", "sha1": "14ac94f4e094a0a6c5babf329b90bfef276e0272", "filename": "files/20150702_R41898_14ac94f4e094a0a6c5babf329b90bfef276e0272.pdf", "images": null } ], "topics": [ { "source": "IBCList", "id": 4602, "name": "Manufacturing Policy" } ] }, { "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc819972/", "id": "R41898_2013Jun19", "date": "2013-06-19", "retrieved": "2016-03-19T13:57:26", "title": "Job Creation in the Manufacturing Revival", "summary": null, "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORT", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "PDF", "filename": "files/20130619_R41898_d51e3156c91681b12762456e08489d57ee50bd51.pdf" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/20130619_R41898_d51e3156c91681b12762456e08489d57ee50bd51.html" } ], "topics": [] }, { "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc93885/", "id": "R41898_2012Jun20", "date": "2012-06-20", "retrieved": "2012-07-24T12:39:36", "title": "Job Creation in the Manufacturing Revival", "summary": "This report looks at recent growth in the U.S. manufacturing sector, which has occurred not only as a result of the country's recovery from recession but also because a change in the nature of manufacturing work.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORT", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "PDF", "filename": "files/20120620_R41898_494bb0845b5c7ec650f182a2f78e7d7d256492d6.pdf" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/20120620_R41898_494bb0845b5c7ec650f182a2f78e7d7d256492d6.html" } ], "topics": [ { "source": "LIV", "id": "Manufacturing industries", "name": "Manufacturing industries" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Industries", "name": "Industries" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Business", "name": "Business" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Government and business", "name": "Government and business" } ] }, { "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc817090/", "id": "R41898_2011Jul01", "date": "2011-07-01", "retrieved": "2016-03-19T13:57:26", "title": "Job Creation in the Manufacturing Revival", "summary": null, "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORT", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "PDF", "filename": "files/20110701_R41898_c2cb5f0487932251bc5aee99be6676ed4e3dfb8b.pdf" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/20110701_R41898_c2cb5f0487932251bc5aee99be6676ed4e3dfb8b.html" } ], "topics": [] } ], "topics": [ "Economic Policy" ] }