5. Manufacturing employees earned $98,846 on average in 2022, including pay and benefits.
In 2022, manufacturing workers in the United States earned $98,846 on average, including pay and benefits. Workers in all private nonfarm industries earned $83,992 on average. Looking specifically at wages, the average hourly earnings of production and nonsupervisory workers in manufacturing rose 0.6% to $27.48 in March 2024, with 5.9% growth over the past 12 months. For all manufacturing employees, average hourly earnings were $33.63 in March, up 5.4% year-over-year. (Sources: Bureau of Economic Analysis and Bureau of Labor Statistics)
6. In 2023, 93% of manufacturing employees were eligible for health insurance benefits.
Manufacturers have one of the highest percentages of workers who are eligible for health benefits provided by their employer. Indeed, 93% of manufacturing employees were eligible for health insurance benefits in 2023, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. This is significantly higher than the 79% average for all firms. Of those who are eligible, 79% participate in their employer’s plans (i.e., the take-up rate). State and local government (90%), transportation, communications and utilities (88%) and finance (81%) had higher take-up rates in 2023. Meanwhile, the average annual cost of a family health care plan for a family of four in manufacturing was $24,156 in 2023. (Source: Kaiser Family Foundation, Employer Health Benefits 2023 Annual Survey)
7. There were 583,000 manufacturing job openings in February 2024.
There were 583,000 manufacturing job openings in February, down from a revised 596,000 in January. There were more postings in the durable goods sector but fewer in the nondurable goods sector. This data continues to reflect a labor market that remains solid despite notable cooling over the past year, with manufacturing job openings still above pre-pandemic levels (but that gap is narrowing). In 2023, manufacturing job openings averaged 613,000, down from 846,000 in 2022. For a pre-pandemic comparison, the average number of job openings in the sector in the 2017–2019 period was 432,000.
In the larger economy, nonfarm business job openings rose from 8,748,000 in January to 8,756,000 in February. There were 6,458,000 unemployed Americans reported in February. Therefore, for every 100 job openings in the U.S. economy, there were 73.8 unemployed workers. As such, there continued to be significantly more job openings than people actively looking for work, even as that ratio narrowed notably in 2023. One year ago, there were only 60 unemployed workers for every 100 open jobs.
Meanwhile, the number of manufacturing quits was 203,000 in February, the lowest reporting in three years. The previous three months’ quits averaged 227,000. This is another sign that churn, which has been a major issue for manufacturers amid a tight labor market, has eased significantly. In fact, the average number of quits per month in the 2017–2019 period was 203,000, suggesting that churn is returning to a pre-pandemic pace in the sector. At the same time, nonfarm payroll quits rose to 3,484,000, up from a revised 3,446,000 in January. (Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics).
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