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Current Employment Statistics (CES0600000001) · Goods-producing, seasonally adjusted

How many jobs are there in goods-producing industries?

The number of jobs in goods-producing industries was 21,623 thousand in the month ended , up 0.7% from a year earlier (preliminary).

Jobs in goods-producing industries, in thousands, seasonally adjusted, each month

January 1939 to September 2026Seasonally adjusted, as published

Jobs in goods-producing industries, in thousands, seasonally adjusted, each month (January 1939 to September 2026), recessions shaded
Jobs in goods-producing industries, in thousands, seasonally adjusted, each month (September 2016 to September 2026), recessions shaded
Jobs in goods-producing industries, in thousands, seasonally adjusted, each month (September 2024 to September 2026)

Shaded bands are US recessions as the National Bureau of Economic Research dates them: to , to , to , to , to , to , to , to , to , to , to , to , to .

Shaded bands are US recessions as the National Bureau of Economic Research dates them: to .

Jobs in goods-producing industries, in thousands, change from a year earlier, each month (ours)

January 1939 to September 2026Ours, from the published values

Jobs in goods-producing industries, in thousands, change from a year earlier, each month (ours) (January 1939 to September 2026), recessions shaded
Jobs in goods-producing industries, in thousands, change from a year earlier, each month (ours) (September 2016 to September 2026), recessions shaded
Jobs in goods-producing industries, in thousands, change from a year earlier, each month (ours) (September 2024 to September 2026)

Shaded bands are US recessions as the National Bureau of Economic Research dates them: to , to , to , to , to , to , to , to , to , to , to , to , to .

Shaded bands are US recessions as the National Bureau of Economic Research dates them: to .

Each point is one month of the series as the source publishes it, or a change worked out from those values (ours). The US recessions are shaded. Pointing at the chart shows the month and the value.

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Inspect and compare dates

The newest month beside the one before it and the nearest ones a year, five and ten years earlier. The last ten years are in the table under "The numbers behind the chart".

MeasureLatestThe month beforeA year earlierFive years earlierTen years earlier
Month
Jobs in goods-producing industries, in thousands21,623 thousand21,605 thousand21,472 thousand20,443 thousand19,730 thousand
Change over a year+0.7%+0.7%−0.7%+2.9%+0.6%

The table scrolls sideways; the first column stays in place.

Observed .

Right now

The number of jobs in goods-producing industries was 21,623 thousand in September 2026, the highest since September 2024.

Over a year it is up 0.7% (ours). The source marks this value preliminary.

See every month of the last ten years

ChangeOurs

PeriodThenChange
One month21,605 thousand in +0.1%
Three months21,536 thousand in +0.4%
Twelve months21,472 thousand in +0.7%
Five years20,443 thousand in +5.8%
Ten years19,730 thousand in +9.6%

In historyOurs

The number of jobs in goods-producing industries of 21,623 thousand in was higher than in 561 of the 1,052 other months since , the same in 0 and lower in 491.

Highest since : 25,163 thousand in . Lowest since : 11,098 thousand in .

AverageOurs

Average since : 20,789.6 thousand (ours, a plain mean of the 1,053 months).

ComparedOurs

Over a year the number of jobs in goods-producing industries is up 0.7%, which ranks 7 of the 35 rows of the table, where 1 is the largest change.

The table sets the number of jobs in goods-producing industries beside the industries on the jobs by industry page, by the change over a year in each one's newest month.

See every row of the ranking

Understanding the number of jobs in goods-producing industries

Where it stands today

The number of jobs in goods-producing industries was 21,623 thousand in September 2026.

What does the number of jobs in goods-producing industries measure?

Goods-producing industries make or build physical things: mining and logging, construction and manufacturing. They are one of the two halves of private employment, the other being the private service-providing industries.

Read more

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) counts these jobs each month in a survey of employers, the Current Employment Statistics, and publishes them in the Employment Situation report at the start of the next month. The count is all employees on payrolls, in thousands, seasonally adjusted.

What 500metrics adds: the change over one month, three months, a year and five years, the highest and lowest value since the series begins, how the change over a year ranks among the lines of the jobs by industry page.

The numbers behind the chart

What was the number of jobs in goods-producing industries in each month?The last ten years, 120 months, newest first; the chart and the file have every month since Jan 1939
Jobs in goods-producing industries, in thousands, seasonally adjusted, by month, newest first (Thousands of jobs; the change ours)
MonthValueChange over a year
21,623 thousand+0.7%
21,605 thousand+0.7%
21,571 thousand+0.3%
21,536 thousand+0.1%
21,522 thousand−0.1%
21,519 thousand−0.2%
21,513 thousand−0.2%
21,480 thousand−0.4%
21,501 thousand−0.3%
21,456 thousand−0.6%
21,477 thousand−0.6%
21,452 thousand−0.6%
21,472 thousand−0.7%
21,461 thousand−0.8%
21,496 thousand−0.6%
21,519 thousand−0.5%
21,538 thousand−0.4%
21,555 thousand−0.4%
21,559 thousand−0.4%
21,560 thousand−0.3%
21,559 thousand−0.3%
21,591 thousand−0.1%
21,602 thousand+0.1%
21,581 thousand+0.1%
Show 96 more rows
MonthValueChange over a year
21,634 thousand+0.3%
21,628 thousand+0.4%
21,636 thousand+0.5%
21,630 thousand+0.5%
21,625 thousand+0.7%
21,631 thousand+0.7%
21,636 thousand+0.9%
21,617 thousand+0.7%
21,631 thousand+0.8%
21,610 thousand+0.9%
21,583 thousand+0.9%
21,556 thousand+1.0%
21,566 thousand+1.3%
21,544 thousand+1.4%
21,520 thousand+1.5%
21,521 thousand+1.8%
21,476 thousand+1.9%
21,476 thousand+2.2%
21,448 thousand+2.4%
21,474 thousand+3.1%
21,469 thousand+3.5%
21,407 thousand+3.4%
21,383 thousand+3.6%
21,348 thousand+3.9%
21,295 thousand+4.2%
21,245 thousand+4.4%
21,206 thousand+4.5%
21,136 thousand+4.6%
21,073 thousand+4.5%
21,020 thousand+4.3%
20,955 thousand+3.8%
20,833 thousand+4.2%
20,737 thousand+3.4%
20,709 thousand+3.2%
20,632 thousand+3.2%
20,540 thousand+3.0%
20,443 thousand+2.9%
20,350 thousand+2.9%
20,291 thousand+2.8%
20,199 thousand+2.6%
20,164 thousand+5.0%
20,148 thousand+8.8%
20,181 thousand−3.5%
19,989 thousand−5.0%
20,053 thousand−4.5%
20,067 thousand−4.4%
19,993 thousand−4.9%
19,943 thousand−5.0%
19,871 thousand−5.6%
19,786 thousand−6.0%
19,738 thousand−6.2%
19,688 thousand−6.4%
19,209 thousand−8.5%
18,523 thousand−11.8%
20,903 thousand−0.2%
21,037 thousand+0.6%
20,999 thousand+0.2%
20,980 thousand+0.4%
21,023 thousand+0.8%
21,003 thousand+0.7%
21,051 thousand+1.1%
21,038 thousand+1.3%
21,044 thousand+1.5%
21,023 thousand+1.7%
20,994 thousand+1.8%
20,992 thousand+2.3%
20,955 thousand+2.3%
20,920 thousand+2.3%
20,960 thousand+3.2%
20,900 thousand+3.0%
20,861 thousand+3.1%
20,861 thousand+3.4%
20,823 thousand+3.4%
20,772 thousand+3.2%
20,724 thousand+3.4%
20,678 thousand+3.2%
20,623 thousand+3.2%
20,529 thousand+2.9%
20,484 thousand+2.8%
20,442 thousand+2.8%
20,318 thousand+2.5%
20,286 thousand+2.5%
20,231 thousand+2.3%
20,174 thousand+2.1%
20,141 thousand+2.1%
20,120 thousand+2.1%
20,038 thousand+1.6%
20,029 thousand+1.8%
19,982 thousand+1.6%
19,952 thousand+1.3%
19,923 thousand+1.2%
19,887 thousand+1.0%
19,821 thousand+0.5%
19,789 thousand+0.4%
19,781 thousand+0.5%
19,759 thousand+0.5%
How does it compare with the industries on the jobs by industry page?Ranked by the change over a year
Jobs in goods-producing industries, in thousands beside the industries on the jobs by industry page, newest month of each, by the change over a year (ours); equal changes share a rank
SeriesMonthValueChange over a yearRank
Health care and social assistance23,959 thousand+2.2%1
Private education and health28,005 thousand+1.9%2
Utilities612 thousand+1.7%3
Construction8,364 thousand+1.3%4
Durable goods7,898 thousand+1.1%5
Professional, scientific, technical10,844 thousand+0.8%6
Accommodation and food services14,310 thousand+0.7%7
Goods-producing21,623 thousand+0.7%7
Other services6,039 thousand+0.6%9
Professional and business services22,482 thousand+0.6%9
Administrative, support, waste9,019 thousand+0.5%11
Private service-providing114,094 thousand+0.5%11
Total private135,717 thousand+0.5%11
Leisure and hospitality16,969 thousand+0.4%14
Wholesale trade6,078 thousand+0.4%14
Local government15,173 thousand+0.3%16
Manufacturing12,652 thousand+0.3%16
Mining and logging607 thousand+0.3%16
Service-providing137,421 thousand+0.3%16
Total nonfarm159,044 thousand+0.3%16
Retail trade15,480 thousand+0.2%21
Trade, transportation, utilities28,778 thousand+0.2%21
Mining, oil and gas extraction567 thousand+0.1%23
Private education4,046 thousand−0.1%24
Transportation and warehousing6,609 thousand−0.1%24
Management of companies2,620 thousand−0.3%26
State government5,472 thousand−0.5%27
Real estate, rental, leasing2,438 thousand−0.6%28
Government23,327 thousand−0.9%29
Nondurable goods4,754 thousand−0.9%29
Financial activities9,082 thousand−1.2%31
Finance and insurance6,645 thousand−1.4%32
Arts, entertainment, recreation2,659 thousand−1.6%33
Information2,739 thousand−4.2%34
Federal government2,682 thousand−8.0%35

The table scrolls sideways; the first column stays in place.

What do these figures leave out, and how are they cited?Limits, dates and how to cite

What this number cannot tell you

  • BLS counts jobs, not people: a person with two jobs on two payrolls is counted twice. Farm jobs, the self-employed, unpaid family workers, private household workers and members of the military are not counted.
  • The count comes from a survey of employers, so each month's value carries sampling error. BLS revises each month twice in the two months after it is first published, and each February it benchmarks the series to a full count of jobs from unemployment insurance tax records and revises earlier values, so past values on this page can change.
  • BLS publishes this series from 1939.
  • JOLTS has no line for exactly this group of industries, so no job openings, hires, quits or layoffs are shown beside the count of jobs.
  • The changes, the ranks and the highest and lowest values are ours, worked out from the values BLS publishes; a change is in percent.

Observed . Checked .

How to cite this

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Employment Statistics, Goods-producing, seasonally adjusted, through September 2026. Compiled by 500metrics, "How many jobs are there in goods-producing industries?", https://500metrics.com/jobs-by-industry/goods-producing.

Can the data be downloaded?jobs-by-industry-goods-producing.csv

Download the full history as CSV: 1,053 rows, to , 19,379 bytes.

Our text and compilation: CC BY 4.0.

Recession dates from the National Bureau of Economic Research.

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