Manufacturing is returning to the United States, according to new research published on August 12 from the St. Louis Federal Reserve.
Manufacturing establishments increased from 336,000 in 2014 to 401,000 in the fourth quarter of 2024, the report says.
The states with the largest shares of manufacturing workers were California, Texas, Ohio, Illinois, Michigan and Pennsylvania. For instance, California employed 10.4% of all manufacturing workers in the U.S., while Texas had 7.3% of manufacturing workers.
However, Southern states have driven the manufacturing recovery from 2014 to 2024. Florida, Texas and Georgia drove most of the revival in U.S. manufacturing, with Florida contributing 17% to the rise in manufacturing employment and 13% to the rise in manufacturing establishments over the past decade.
Manufacturing jobs in the United States has declined over the past 60 years, according to research published by Ricardo Marto and Hoang Le. Manufacturing used to dominate U.S. jobs, but not anymore.
“While manufacturing was once a leading source of jobs, employment in the sector has declined over the past decades as the economy has shifted toward service industries,” the report said. “It averaged 33.7% of employment in 1960 and 19.4% in 1990.”
Although the average number of employees per manufacturing establishment has been falling as automakers automate, a manufacturing establishment still employed an average of 32 workers in 2024.
For instance, the food manufacturing industry drove 19% of the increase in the number of manufacturing establishments and 49% of the rise in manufacturing employment over the past decade.
Starting in 2014, manufacturing employment has been slowly recovering. Over the past decade, manufacturing employment and establishments grew 5% and 19%, respectively, to 12.6 million people and to 401,000 establishments.
About half of the sector’s increase in employment over the past 10 years was driven by the food manufacturing subindustry. Florida and Texas housed the boost, jointly explaining 32% of the increase in manufacturing employment and 25% of the rise in manufacturing establishments.
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