October was a positive month for job growth in manufacturing, according to the latest data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics Nov. 4 on the U.S. employment situation. Durable goods and nondurable goods manufacturers collectively hired about 32,000 people last month, up from 23,000 hired in September.
It was a strong month for hiring in the rest of the private economy, too, which added 261,000 jobs, and the unemployment rate rose by 0.2 of a percentage point to 3.7%.
The subsector of manufacturing that saw the most growth was the computer and electronics industry, which hired approximately 5,400 employees in October. The runners-up were fabricated metal companies (5,200 new hires), motor vehicles and parts (4,800), and nonmetallic mineral products manufacturers. The smaller nondurable goods sector added 3,000 workers in the plastics and rubber sector, approximately 2,100 in miscellaneous nondurables, 1,500 in chemicals, and a thousand or fewer elsewhere.
Wages increased, though mostly at a slower rate in manufacturing than in the rest of the economy. Average manufacturing wages rose only 9 cents an hour to a $31.23 average hourly wage, compared to a 12-cent-per- hour increase in overall private wages, which rose to $32.58. Durable goods manufacturing, the larger and more influential sector when it comes to average manufacturing wages, saw wages increase by 8 cents to $32.82: Nondurable goods manufacturing, which traditionally offers lower wages, saw 10-cent growth in average hourly wages from $28.44 to $28.54.
In a post on social media, Chief Economist at the National Association of Manufacturers Chad Moutray signaled optimism and pointed towards strong manufacturing growth in most manufacturing sectors compared to 2021.
“On a year-over-year basis, employment increased in all but two of the major manufacturing sectors, which was encouraging,” Moutray wrote, noting that the industries seeing the best hiring rates of the past year were food manufacturing (which hired 67,500 people), fabricated metal products (56,200), and transportation equipment (55,800).
