Census Bureau releases summary statistics on U.S. manufacturing in 2018

This week’s release of the Annual Survey of Manufacturers (ASM) from the Census Bureau provides the most detailed statistics on the U.S. manufacturing sector and provides a snapshot of where the sector stood prior to the pandemic. Based on the 2018 summary statistics, the Census Bureau offers the following preliminary insights which can also be seen in the image below.

• Transportation Equipment had the greatest total value of shipments (more than $1 trillion) and was the first manufacturing subsector to surpass the $1 trillion mark;
• Transportation Equipment had the greatest total payroll (over $106 billion) and the greatest number of employees (1,563,273);
• Food manufacturing had the second greatest total value of shipments ($787 billion);
• Food manufacturing had the second greatest number of employees (1,498,491) and the fourth greatest annual payroll (nearly $69 billion);
• Chemical manufacturing had the third greatest total value of shipments ($765 billion); and
• Fabricated metal product manufacturing had the second greatest annual payroll ($77.6 billion) and the third greatest number of employees (1,400,643)

The summary statistics for 2018 include data on:

• Employment;
• Payroll;
• Cost of materials consumed;
• Operating expenses;
• Value of shipments;
• Value added by manufacturing;
• Fuels and electric energy used; and
• Inventories

Eventually, the Census Bureau will release total manufacturing data by state, supplemented by state-level data on a few 3-, 4- and 6-digit NAICS.