Plastics moves from eighth to sixth largest U.S. manufacturing industry

The U.S. plastics industry moved up in ranking in 2021 from the eighth to the sixth largest manufacturing industry in the country, according to new figures from the Washington, D.C.-based Plastics Industry Association.

The U.S. plastics industry accounts for nearly a million jobs (999,100), the Plastics Industry Association said, and when suppliers to the plastics industry are included, that number rises to 1.5 million. These and many more facts and figures have just been published by the organization in its 2022 Size and Impact report.

Plastics manufacturing employment grew 3.2 per cent from 2020 to 2021, the report said, more than twice the growth of manufacturing as a whole, which was 1.5 per cent.

“U.S. plastics shipments totaled [US]$468.0 billion for 2021; when suppliers to the plastics industry are included, shipments totaled [US]$600.4 billion,” the report said.

The report also noted that employment in the plastics manufacturing industry fell 0.9 per cent per year between 1997 and 2021, which is better than employment in all of U.S. manufacturing, which fell 1.4 per cent per year during the same period. It also observed that plastics manufacturing is found in all 50 states – Ohio had the most plastics industry employees in 2021, followed by Texas, California, Michigan, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Wisconsin, North Carolina, and Georgia.

“[This] report shows that the plastics industry, while previously eighth is now the sixth largest manufacturing industry in the U.S,” said Matt Seaholm, president and CEO of the Plastics Industry Association. “Plain and simple, these numbers show that the plastics industry is growing and will continue to do so as part of a circular economy.”

For more on the report, click on this link.