Recent Economic Trends in Manufacturing

Office of the Chief Economist  Economics and Statistics Administration  Page 1

Executive Summary

The initial strength of the rebound in manufacturing after the Great 

Recession has cooled off in recent years.1 Although limited, the available 

data so far for 2017 indicates that there may be some renewed 

momentum for growth. Additionally, a monthly survey of manufacturers 

indicates that the sector is growing.

However, the U.S. manufacturing sector is made up of many industries 

that produce goods as diverse as food products, automobiles, furniture, 

and refined petroleum products and the performance of these industries 

has varied considerably. 

This report presents some of the latest data available and explores recent 

historical trends for the manufacturing sector as a whole and for its 

industries. Some findings from this report include:

 Shipments from four manufacturing industries: motor vehicles, bodies, 

trailers, and parts; food, beverages, and tobacco products; petroleum 

and coal products; and chemicals accounted for over half of all 

shipments from the manufacturing sector in 2016.

 Shipments, which are measured in nominal dollars, rather than 

quantities, can be greatly affected by changes in prices. The large 

decrease in oil prices over the past several years has driven down the 

value of shipments from the petroleum and coal products industry,

which refines oil and other raw materials into usable goods.

 In 2016, U.S. auto manufacturers assembled 3.9 million autos and 7.9 

light trucks for a total of 11.8 million, the most since 2003. 

 

1

See Nicholson, Jessica R. and Ryan Noonan. Manufacturing Since the Great Recession. Office of the Chief 

Economist, Economics and Statistics Administration. June 2014. Available at 

http://www.esa.doc.gov/reports/manufacturing-great-recession. 

 

U.S. Department of Commerce

Economics and Statistics Administration

Office of the Chief Economist

Recent Economic Trends in 

Manufacturing

By

Jessica R. Nicholson

ESA Issue Brief

#03-17

June 22, 2017
Recent Economic Trends in Manufacturing

Office of the Chief Economist  Economics and Statistics Administration  Page 2

 Only three manufacturing industries registered international trade surpluses in 2016: other 

transportation equipment (excluding motor vehicles); petroleum and coal products; and paper.

 Manufacturers have added 945,000 jobs since March 2010. More than 200,000 jobs have been 

added to both the motor vehicles and parts and food, beverages, and tobacco products 

industries. However, six of the nineteen manufacturing industries have had net job losses since 

the end of the recession.

 The motor vehicles, bodies, trailers, and parts and chemicals industries have contributed the 

most to the growth of gross domestic product (GDP) since the end of the recession.
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Introduction

The initial strength of the rebound in manufacturing after the Great Recession has cooled off in recent 

years.2 Although limited, the available data so far for 2017 indicates that there may be some renewed 

momentum for growth. Additionally, the outlook from manufacturers, overall, is optimistic. The Institute 

for Supply Management’s Purchasing Managers’ Index, a survey that gauges manufacturers’ sentiments 

on growth in orders, production, employment, and other dimensions, has reported expansion in the 

sector for nine straight months and for the first three months of 2017 reported levels last seen in 2014.3

However, the U.S. manufacturing sector is made up of many industries that produce goods as diverse as 

food products, automobiles, furniture, and refined petroleum products. Some of these industries are 

much larger than others, which in turn affects how they contribute to the U.S. economy. For example, 

four out of the nineteen manufacturing industries tracked by the U.S. Census Bureau accounted for over 

half of the shipments, or sales, for the entire sector in 2016. The performance of the manufacturing 

industries has varied considerably. That same year, only three industries registered international trade 

surpluses. And, there are six manufacturing industries that have net job losses since the end of the 

recession. This report presents some of the latest data available and explores recent historical trends for 

the manufacturing sector as a whole and for its industries.

Shipments and Production

The post-recession rebound in shipments slowed in 2014 and manufacturers registered yearover-year losses in shipments in both 2015 and 2016, partly as a result of a drop in petroleum 

prices. 

The recovery in manufacturing, as measured by shipments, or sales, started off strong. Shipments 

measured in nominal, or current dollars, surpassed their July 2008 pre-recession high in February 2013 

and peaked at $496.9 billion in August 2014 (See Figure 1).

4

Since August 2014, shipments have 

fluctuated between monthly gains and losses with an overall decrease of $26.1 billion. As discussed 

below, large declines in petroleum prices contributed to this downturn. In the first four months of 2017, 

shipments are up only $1.5 billion, standing at $470.8 billion as of April.

 

2

See Nicholson, Jessica R. and Ryan Noonan. Manufacturing Since the Great Recession. Office of the Chief 

Economist, Economics and Statistics Administration. June 2014. Available at 

http://www.esa.doc.gov/reports/manufacturing-great-recession. 

3 Data from the Institute for Supply Management’s Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index is available at: 

https://www.instituteforsupplymanagement.org/news/content.cfm?ItemNumber=28859. 

4 Data are from the Census Bureau’s Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories, and Orders survey available at: 

https://www.census.gov/manufacturing/m3/index.html. 
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Motor vehicle manufacturers have increased shipments since the end of the recession while 

petroleum and coal products manufacturers have seen shipments fall back below 

recessionary levels.

In 2000, the four industries presented in Figure 2 accounted for 40 percent of all manufacturing 

shipments. By 2010, their share of total sales had risen to over 50 percent, where it remained in 2016, 

even with the large price-related losses in the petroleum and coal products industry. The food, 

beverages, and tobacco products industry and the chemicals industry, after bouncing back from the 

recession, have had relatively steady shipments for the past several years. 
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Some of the losses in petroleum and coal products manufacturing have been offset by the booming 

motor vehicles industry; auto manufacturers have increased shipments each year since the recession.5

Figure 3 shows U.S. unit production of automobiles and light trucks since 2000. In 2016, U.S. auto 

manufacturers assembled 3.9 million autos and 7.9 light trucks for a total of 11.8 million, the most since 

2003. The production of light trucks has been on the rise since the recession. Production of automobiles 

had its post-recession peak in 2013 at 4.4 million but since then has been trending downward. So far in 

2017, these trends continue.

Prices of inputs and final goods can significantly affect shipments.

The petroleum and coal products industry transforms raw materials, such as crude petroleum and coal, 

into usable products.6 After the recession, shipments from the petroleum and coal products industry 

bounced back rather quickly, surpassing 2008 levels by 2011 and remaining high until large losses in 

2015. However, much of the losses were due to price effects, as the price of crude oil, which is a primary 

input in the production of petroleum and had averaged over $90 a barrel from 2011 to 2014, fell to 

around $50 a barrel in 2015.7 Because shipments data are reported in nominal, not real, dollars, rather 

than in units, or by quantity, large changes in the prices of inputs or in the prices of final goods 

significantly affect trends in shipments. Shipments from petroleum and coal products manufacturers fell 

$36.0 billion from August 2014 to February 2016, accounting for over 70 percent of the decline in overall 

manufacturing sector shipments during that period. 

 

5 Americans bought a record 17.5 million automobiles and light trucks in 2016. Data from the BEA, supplemental 

estimates, motor vehicles, available at: https://www.bea.gov/national/index.htm. U.S. motor vehicle sales include 

domestically-produced and imported retail motor vehicle sales.

6 The dominant process is petroleum refining, which involves the separation of crude petroleum into component 

products through such techniques as cracking and distillation. Establishments in this industry also further process 

refined petroleum and coal output to produce products such as asphalt coatings and petroleum lubricating oils. 

See: http://www.bls.gov/iag/tgs/iag324.htm.

7 Data on crude oil prices is from the Energy Information Administration, available at 

www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/pet_pri_spt_s1_d.htm.
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However, the Federal Reserve’s Industrial Production (IP) Index measures production at constant prices.

8 According to the index for petroleum and coal products manufacturing, real production in that industry 

actually grew in both 2015 and 2016 and was 7 percent higher in 2016 than in 2009. (See Figure 4) Just 

as price effects exaggerated the growth and decline in petroleum shipments over the past seven years, 

as shown by the different trends in shipments data and the IP index, they have exaggerated growth in 

other manufacturing industries. The IP indices for food, beverage, and tobacco products and chemicals 

show much smaller changes in annual production than the shipments data, indicating that changing 

prices have influenced some of the recent trends in shipments for those industries.

International trade

The strong dollar has hurt U.S. exports of manufactured goods and 2016 marked a record for 

the largest trade deficit for these goods.

The story of manufacturing exports is similar to the story on shipments. In the first two years after the 

recession, U.S. manufacturing exports rebounded strongly, increasing $150.2 billion in 2010 and $150.8 

billion in 2011, as shown by the blue bars in Figure 5.9 After 2011, the increases were more lackluster 

and were subsequently cancelled out after manufacturing exports declined in 2015 and 2016. The 

downturn was not due solely to petroleum and coal products. Exports of these goods decreased 33 

percent in 2015 and another 12 percent in 2016. However, U.S. exporters of manufactured goods 

reported declines even after excluding these products. In fact, exports were down across most goods 

categories measured by the U.S. Census Bureau.

 

8

Federal Reserve’s Industrial Production index data available at: 

https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/g17/download.htm. 

9

International trade data from the Census Bureau’s USA Trade Online, available at: https://usatrade.census.gov/. 

This report uses domestic exports value data.
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The gray line in Figure 5 shows the nominal broad trade-weighted exchange value of the U.S. dollar.10 At 

the end of 2014, the U.S. dollar quickly started gaining strength compared to other currencies, as is it did 

in the early 2000’s. When the value of the U.S. dollar increases relative to other currencies, U.S.-made 

goods are more expensive for foreign consumers and exports tend to fall.

U.S. manufacturers exported $174.0 billion of chemicals in 2016, or 17 percent of all manufactured 

goods exports that year, the largest of the nineteen major product groups included in this analysis.

11

Transportation equipment excluding motor vehicles, but including aircraft and parts, ships, and railroad 

equipment was second at $133.8 billion or 13 percent of annual exports. Motor vehicles ($117.8 billion 

or 11 percent), computer and electronic products ($115.6 billion or 11 percent), and machinery ($108.5 

billion or 10 percent) rounded out the top five.

Imports of manufactured goods generally have been on the rise, though with a few exceptions.12 In 2001 

and in 2009, imports fell as recession hit the United States. More recently, imports declined on a yearover-year basis in both 2015 and 2016. Even with the recent declines, the manufacturing trade balance 

(exports minus imports) hit a record deficit in 2016 at $868.5 billion. (See Figure 6) In the same year, the 

 

10 The broad index is a weighted average of the foreign exchange values of the U.S. dollar against the currencies of 

a large group of major U.S. trading partners. The index weights, which change over time, are derived from U.S. 

export shares and from U.S. and foreign import shares. More information and data available from the Federal 

Reserve Board’s website at: https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h10/summary/. Additionally, world real GDP 

growth slowed in 2015 and 2016 (estimated), weakening global demand for goods. Data are from the International 

Monetary Fund World Economic Outlook Database, available at: 

http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2017/01/weodata/index.aspx. 

11 The author included trade data on motor vehicles, bodies, trailers and parts as a separate category from the rest 

of transportation equipment to be consistent with other economic indicators analyzed in this report. 

12 Data on imports are from the Census Bureau’s USA Trade Online. This report uses the customs import value 

data.
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United States ran a trade surplus in only three of the nineteen product groups. (See Figure 7) The largest 

surplus was in transportation equipment excluding motor vehicles ($74.5 billion), which was more than 

accounted for by the surplus in aerospace products and parts. Smaller surpluses were recorded in 

petroleum and coal products ($12.7 billion) and paper products ($2.9 billion).

The largest trade deficit for the U.S. in 2016, at $257.6 billion, was in computer and electronic products 

The U.S. imported $373.2 billion of these goods of which $116.7 billion, or 31 percent, was 
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communications equipment. Computer equipment ($87.3 billion) and semiconductors ($74.3 billion) 

together accounted for another 43 percent. Computer and electronic products have experienced a 

notable decline in export value and share. U.S. exports of these commodities accounted for only for 11 

percent of the total value of manufacturing exports in 2016, compared to more than a quarter, or 

almost $200 billion, in 2000. This is largely due to the fact that prices of computer and electronic 

products have experienced sharp declines over the past few decades. 13

While motor vehicle production and sales have been booming, the U.S. trade balance in motor vehicles, 

bodies and trailers, and parts was deeply in the red in 2016 with a deficit of $198.5 billion. Over the 

period from 2000 to 2011, the U.S. trade deficit for this group of products averaged $117.3 billion per 

year. In recent years, the deficit has been higher, averaging $173.9 billion per year from 2012 to 2016. In 

2016, the U.S. imported $316.4 billion of motor vehicles and related goods. This was equal to 16 percent 

of the value of all imported manufactured goods that year. Since 2000, this commodity group has 

consistently ranked second in terms of value of imports, behind only computers and electronic products.

From a trade balance perspective, petroleum and coal products have been a recent bright spot. U.S. 

exports of these refined goods have increased considerably since 2000 helping to change the 

longstanding trade deficit for these goods to a surplus in 2014 through 2016. In the early part of this 

period, annual exports didn’t reach $10 billion. In 2011 exports soared past $100 billion. Petroleum and 

coal products accounted for 10 percent of the value of U.S. manufactured goods exports each year from 

2012 from 2014 after accounting for just 1 percent in the early 2000’s. On the import side, the value of 

U.S. petroleum and coal product imports in 2016 was $55.1 billion, the lowest level since 2004.

Recent declines in petroleum prices reduced the value of petroleum products exports to $67.9 billion in 

2016, but not the quantity. Unit exports of petroleum products actually have exceeded unit imports 

since 2011, the time when U.S. production of crude oil increased dramatically.14 (See Figure 8) U.S. crude 

 

13 For more information, see Adji Fatou Diagne, “Made in America, Computer and Electronic Products,” U.S. 

Department of Commerce, Economics and Statistics Administration, Box 1, available at: 

http://esa.doc.gov/sites/default/files/made-in-america-computer-and-electronic-products.pdf. 

14 Data from the Energy Information Administration. Data on petroleum trade and prices available at: 

https://www.eia.gov/petroleum/data.php. 
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oil production increased from nearly 5.2 million barrels per day 2008 to 9.4 million per day in 2015, 

falling slightly to 8.9 million barrels per day in 2016. Increased crude oil production led to increased 

exports of refined products. On an annual basis, the average daily exports of petroleum products grew 

each year between 2001 and 2016, from around 1.0 million barrels per day from 2000 to 2005 to just 

over 5.0 million barrels per day in 2016. Unit imports of petroleum products peaked in the mid-2000’s at 

3.6 million barrels per day. From 2013 through 2016, unit imports were back to around 2.0 million 

barrels per day—levels last seen in the late 1990’s.

Employment 

Manufacturers have been hiring new workers over the past six years. Although employment 

in the sector fell by 16,000 during 2016, manufacturers have added 55,000 new jobs so far in 

2017.

Unlike shipments or exports that have risen and fallen depending on economic conditions, employment 

in the manufacturing sector began a steady long-term decline in the late 1990’s. In mid-1998, there 

were 17.6 million workers in the manufacturing sector.15 By March 2010, when the job losses associated 

with the last recession ended, employment in manufacturing bottomed out at 11.5 million jobs. (See 

Figure 9). 

In April 2010, employers in the manufacturing sector began doing something they hadn’t done in 15 

years—they began adding jobs consistently. From April 2010 to January 2016, a 70-month period, 

manufacturing employers added jobs to their payrolls in all but 12 months. From 2011 to 2015, annual 

job gains averaged over 150,000. In 2016, manufacturers stopped hiring and actually shed 16,000 over 

the course of the year. However, the most recent jobs data shows that manufacturers are adding to 

their payrolls once again. Manufacturers hired for five straight months from December 2016 to April of 

 

15 Data on payroll employment are from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Employment Statistics program 

available at: https://www.bls.gov/ces/. 
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2017, adding a total of 74,000 jobs over that period. In May 2017, hiring in the sector was essentially 

flat. 

Auto manufacturers account for almost a third of manufacturing job gains since the end of 

the recession. Many industries have experienced relatively small job gains or losses, keeping 

employment levels relatively flat over the past six and a half years.

The manufacturing sector accounts for just 6 percent of all the job growth since March 2010, or 0.9 

million of 16.2 million net new jobs. While 6 percent is a relatively small portion of job growth, it is 

remarkable considering the job losses in sector prior to the recession. 

From around 2000 through the recession, job losses were widespread across all manufacturing 

industries. However, since the recession, hiring across the manufacturing industries has varied. (See 

Figure 10) One consistent story is the strength of the motor vehicles industry. Once again, the motor 
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vehicles industry is at the top of the list and has contributed 282,900 new jobs to the economy through 

May 2017, or 30 percent of the new manufacturing jobs created since the recession. Remarkably, many 

other manufacturing industries have net job gains over this period, after a decade or more of declining 

employment. Food, beverages, and tobacco products manufacturers added 216,700 jobs to their 

payrolls over this period, with 140,000 of these jobs added since the beginning of 2015. The fabricated 

metal products and machinery products industries have also experienced relatively high post-recession 

net job growth with over 100,000 net new jobs in each industry. However, unlike the food, beverages, 

and tobacco products story, manufacturers producing fabricated metal products and machinery have 

been shedding jobs since the end of 2014; since then, the fabricated metal products industry has lost 

40,800 jobs while the machinery industry is down 50,600 jobs. 

Most of the industries that have lost jobs over the past several years are not surprising. Employment in 

the textiles, textile products, and apparel industries has been on the decline for several decades as 

imports of goods produced by these industries have grown substantially. The printing industry, 

competing with online and digital media, began shedding jobs at the end of the 1990’s. In May, 

employment in the industry was 436,100 compared to over 800,000 in 1998. The paper industry has also 

been losing jobs for decades and paper manufacturers did not bring back jobs after accelerated job 

losses during the recession. Employment in the petroleum and coal products industry has been 

essentially flat after experiencing periods of growth and periods of decline associated with the recent 

expansion of U.S. oil production and decline in oil prices worldwide.

Contribution to economic growth

The manufacturing sector has contributed over 8 percent to real gross domestic product 

(GDP) growth since the recession, but manufacturing real value added has yet to return to its 

pre-recession high.

Economic growth is measured by change in real GDP, or value added. The manufacturing sector 

contributes to overall economic growth, or GDP, when manufacturers increase their value added, or the 

total value of what manufacturers produce less any intermediate inputs they used to create their 

products.16 The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) defines intermediate inputs as “the goods and 

services (including energy, raw materials, semi-finished goods, and services that are purchased from all 

sources) that are used in the production process to produce other goods or services rather than for final 

consumption.”17 Approximately one third of every dollar of the manufacturing sector’s final output is 

value added and is directly added to GDP.18

 

16 For more on how gross domestic product and value added are defined and estimated, see BEA’s “Measuring the 

Economy. A Primer on GDP and the National Income and Product Accounts,” available at: 

https://www.bea.gov/national/pdf/nipa_primer.pdf. 

17 See BEA’s website, frequently asked questions available at: https://www.bea.gov/faq/index.cfm?faq_id=185. 

18 Author’s calculation using data from BEA. In 2016, 33 percent the manufacturing sector’s output was value 

added. This share varied by industry—71 percent of output from the computer and electronic products industry 

was value added while value added accounted for only 25 percent of output from motor vehicles and related 

goods industry.
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Figure 11 shows real value added, in the manufacturing sector since 2005. Despite growing by $212.0 

billion (2009 U.S. dollars) since bottoming out at $1,693.5 billion in the first quarter of 2009, 

manufacturing real value added has not yet reached its pre-recession high of $1,954.8 billion from the 

third quarter of 2007.19 Since 2011, the initially strong recovery became less consistent, alternating 

between periods of moderate growth and decline. 

From 2010 through 2016, the manufacturing sector contributed 1.27 percentage points to overall GDP 

growth of 15.6 percent. Accounting for only 8.1 percent of total GDP growth, manufacturing is 

contributing less than its overall share of the economy, which as of the fourth quarter of 2016 stands at 

11.3 percent, its lowest share historically.

20

The diverse set of industries that make up the manufacturing sector vary in not only what they produce, 

but also in how they have contributed to economic growth (See Figure 12).21 Recall that in 2016, just 

 

19 Data is from the BEA available at: https://www.bea.gov/industry/index.htm. Quarterly data on real value added 

in the manufacturing sector is only available since Q1 2005. Annual data is available since 1997. On an annual 

basis, 2007 marked the pre-recession high at $1924.8 billion (2009 USD). BEA defines value added as a measure of 

output after removing the value of the intermediate inputs used in production. The main components of value 

added include the returns to labor (compensation of employees), returns to capital (as measured by gross 

operating surplus), and returns to government (as measured by taxes on production and imports less subsidies).

20 As measured in nominal dollars. In recent years, the manufacturing sector has been growing considerably slower 

than the rest of the economy. Manufacturing as a share of nominal GDP hit the lowest level on record in the fourth

quarter of 2016 at 11.6 percent. This share fell to 11.9 percent during the 2008-09 recession, but had risen back up 

to 12.4 percent in 2012. These recent values are well below the share from the late 1940’s when manufacturing 

accounted for around a quarter of nominal GDP.

21 Chained (2009) dollar series are calculated as the product of the chain-type quantity index and the 2009 currentdollar value of the corresponding series, divided by 100. Because the formula for the chain-type quantity indexes 

uses weights of more than one period, the corresponding chained-dollar estimates are usually not additive.
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four industries - food, beverage, and tobacco products; motor vehicles, bodies, trailers, and parts; 

chemicals; and petroleum and coal products accounted for more than half of all shipments from U.S. 

manufacturers. However, only one of these industries, motor vehicle-related manufacturing, had a 

positive contribution to overall real GDP growth over the past seven years. This industry contributed 

0.80 percentage points to real GDP growth over this period. Also noteworthy is the computer and 

electronic products industry; although this industry only contributed about 5 to 6 percent of 

manufacturing shipments, it contributed over half a percentage point to real GDP growth. Together, the 

eight industries with declining real GDP subtracted 0.39 percentage points from real GDP growth, with 

the food, beverages, and tobacco products industry accounting for more than half of the negative 

contribution. 
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For most of the manufacturing industries, growth over the past seven years has been unremarkable. 

Thirteen of the nineteen industries shown in Figure 12 have contributed (or subtracted) 0.05 percentage 

points or less to overall manufacturing GDP growth during that period. 

Figure 13 shows industry shares of GDP for the manufacturing sector. The most notable difference 

between the shares of GDP presented here compared to the share of GDP growth shown in Figure 12 is 

the food, beverages, & tobacco products industry. While this industry accounted for over 12 percent of 

overall manufacturing GDP in 2016, the industry subtracted 0.22 percentage points from post-recession 

annual GDP growth. 
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Conclusion

The economic health of a sector or an industry can be measured in many different ways and what is 

happening in the sector overall is not always indicative of the trends in the industries that comprise that 

sector. Looking at a variety of indicators helps to provide a fuller picture of the economic health of an 

industry. As shown in this report, an industry that is contributing to the growth of GDP is not necessarily 

contributing job growth, such as is the case with the computer and electronics industry. Likewise, an 

industry that is booming with respect to sales and job growth, such as the motor vehicle industry, can 

still be a large contributor to the international trade deficit. 

Although, according to many economic indicators, the importance of manufacturing to the U.S. 

economy has decreased in recent decades it is still the case that ten percent of all private sector workers 

in the United States work in manufacturing and the sector accounts for more than a tenth of U.S. GDP. 

Using available policy tools, there is opportunity to build on the recent improvement in the sector and 

the recent increased optimism of U.S. manufacturers which, in turn, will help lead to improved overall 

growth in the U.S. economy.
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Acknowledgments 

The author would like to thank the following persons who provided comments, suggestions, and other 

contributions to this report. Any errors in the report are solely the author’s responsibility. 

Rob Rubinovitz, Deputy Chief Economist, Department of Commerce

Dave Langdon, Economist and Senior Policy Advisor

Ryan Noonan, Economist
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Suggested citation: 

Nicholson, J. Office of the Chief Economist, Economics and Statistics Administration, U.S. Department of 

Commerce. (2017). Recent Economic Trends in Manufacturing (ESA Issue Brief # 03-17). Retrieved from

https://www.esa.gov/reports/recent-economic-trends-manufacturing. . 

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