Beyond the Products: A Look at the Workers and their Occupations in the Manufacturing Industry

"On Manufacturing Day, we celebrate the wide range of skills and occupations of workers in the manufacturing industry.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, one in 10, or 15.4 million, U.S. workers in the civilian workforce had jobs in the manufacturing industry in 2016, making everything from cars to food. What do we know about people who work in manufacturing? What specific occupations do manufacturing workers hold? Using the American Community Survey, we can paint a statistical picture of manufacturing workers to gain a deeper understanding of the people who work in the manufacturing industry.

Compared with all workers, people who work in the manufacturing industry were older, had less education, were mostly men, were more likely to work full-time, year-round, and earned more on average.

Manufacturing industry employees work in hundreds of occupations, which can be organized into five broad groups. Almost half of workers were in production, transportation, and material moving occupations (49.2 percent) while management, business, science, and arts occupations comprised 30.0 percent. Other jobs within the manufacturing industry include sales and office occupations; natural resources, construction, and maintenance occupations; and service occupations..."
Manufacturing industry jobs