Posted on: August 11, 2017
Last month, Pew Research Center released an article highlighting national growth in manufacturing output (as measured by GDP) despite a decline in manufacturing employment (“Most Americans unaware that as U.S. manufacturing jobs have disappeared, output has grown (external link),” July 25, 2017).
Do these trends hold true for metro Atlanta? The state of Georgia? This week’s Friday Factday aims to answer just that.
As shown in the charts below, both metro Atlanta and Georgia have seen an overall decline in manufacturing employment over the last decade, mirroring national trends in manufacturing employment. Metro Atlanta’s manufacturing employment fell from 174,723 in 2007 to just 140,958 in 2010, followed by a period of slow growth to 160,505 in 2016. Georgia’s manufacturing employment followed a very similar trajectory, falling from 430,962 in 2007 to a low of 343,111 in 2010 before climbing back up to 385,987 in 2016.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW)
Looking at manufacturing employment as a share of total employment paints a similar picture, with the manufacturing industry’s share of total employment declining nationally, as well as in Georgia and metro Atlanta.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, QCEW
However, despite declines in manufacturing employment, the national trend highlighted by Pew holds true for metro Atlanta and Georgia — manufacturing output has increased. From 2007 to 2015, metro Atlanta has experienced growth in manufacturing output from $23 billion to nearly $27 billion. By comparison, Georgia’s manufacturing output has increased from $47.5 billion in 2007 to just over $55 billion in 2015.
