The latest job numbers out today (Friday, September 7th) once again paint a rosy picture of the U.S. economy – 201,000 jobs were added in August, above expectations, and wages continued to increase.
The fuel and petrochemical industries, which are in the midst of a historic production and manufacturing boom, can take part of the credit for the good news.
According to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, between August 2017 and August 2018, 254,000 U.S. jobs were created in manufacturing, marking a steady stream of continued sector growth.
The data includes jobs in petrochemical refining and in the production of plastics, rubbers, packaging materials, industrial gases, resins and artificial fibers – products that AFPM members either create or create the raw materials for.
BLS data on job growth 2017-2018
The manufacturing sector, an industry hit especially hard by the recession, has rebounded along the Rust Belt and the Gulf Coast, with some industrial Midwestern cities reporting double-digit wage growth and Texan energy hubs experiencing impressive employment gains. Notably, Houston added 6,700 manufacturing jobs in June 2018, marking a three percent year-over-year employment increase in a region that produces $80 billion in manufactured goods per year. With unemployment rates near record lows and outputs increasing, manufacturing in Texas is an increasingly favorable market for job-seekers as U.S. workers are experiencing their best employment prospects in years.
AFPM recognizes that the refining industry’s most valuable assets are its employees, understanding that human capital is indispensable to national progress. AFPM’s member companies employ over three million Americans in hundreds of refineries and petrochemical facilities across 33 states, driving U.S. labor trends toward steady job growth and wage development across the manufacturing sector during the past year.
