Some facts about United States manufacturing:
- Manufacturing in the United States produces $1.8 trillion of value each year, or 12.2 percent of U.S. GDP. For every $1.00 spent in manufacturing, another $1.48 is added to the economy, the highest multiplier effect of any economic sector.1
- The industry supports an estimated 17.2 million jobs in the United States—about one in six private-sector jobs. Nearly 12 million Americans (or 9 percent of the workforce) are employed directly in manufacturing.2
- In 2011, the average manufacturing worker in the United States earned $77,060 annually, including pay and benefits. The average worker in all industries earned $60,168.3
- Manufacturers in the United States are the most productive in the world, far surpassing the worker productivity of any other major manufacturing economy, leading to higher wages and living standards.4
- Manufacturers in the United States perform two-thirds of all private-sector R&D in the nation, driving more innovation than any other sector.5
- Taken alone, manufacturing in the United States would be the 10th largest economy in the world.6
- Bureau of Economic Analysis, Industry Economic Accounts (2011).
- Bureau of Labor Statistics (2012), with estimate of total employment supported by manufacturing calculated by NAM using data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis(2011).
- Bureau of Economic Analysis (2011).
- NAM calculations based on data from the United Nations, Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the International Labour Organization.
- National Science Foundation (2008).
- Bureau of Economic Analysis, Industry Economic Accounts (2011) and International Monetary Fund (2011).
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