Tag: covid-19

PPE Manufacturers Busy in Q2

PPE manufacturers work to keep up with the demand for disposable face masks
PPE like Face masks remain in high demand.

Sourcing from PPE manufacturers for products related to the safety increased by almost 12,000%, according to recent data released by ThomasNet.com. (1) This included items like respirators, face masks, nitrile gloves, and hand sanitizer. Demand is expected to remain elevated as manufacturing tries to keep up with demand caused by the COVID-19 crisis.

Other areas of growth include in automation engineering services. This sector exceeded the anticipated growth of 6-9%. Actual sector growth was 16%. Robotic welding services also exceeded predictions, growing by 8%.

The benefits of automation have come to the fore in the wake of the pandemic and associated labor shortages, allowing manufacturers to optimize their plant efficiency and better utilize the human workforce available.

Thomas Index Q3 predictions include continued sustained sourcing activity for products related to PPE and other COVID-19 products. This includes plastic barriers, isopropyl alcohol, UV lamps, and cleaning products. Sourcing for farm equipment also increased as producers worked to keep up with food supply chain changes. Additionally, plastic injection molding services serving both the medical and food and beverage markets have increased.

(1) https://f.hubspotusercontent00.net/hubfs/242200/DG%20-%20eBook%20PDFs/Thomas%20-%202020%20Q2%20Sourcing%20Activity%20Snapshot.pdf?utm_campaign=2020%20Demand%20Generation&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=91093572&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9wkeXowZKAwkrq0IMy1iVMwq4vspOt5TZIxNyNiM0kj6pzg2KEf_nWkiagtYb0ayShJWQyk-l03fFXrnjcT8PwrAszbxwQpFBSncJtOFwN87t6-yk&utm_content=91093572&utm_source=hs_automation

Seven States Account for Half of Manufacturing Jobs Lost in April

Close up of part of an industrial facility. Manufacturing jobs were lost in 2020, but overall fared better than other sectors.
April saw more job contraction in the manufacturing sector than any time in the last 74 years.

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the national unemployment rate increased by 10.3 percentage points over the month of April. Manufacturing jobs experienced a 10.4% decline over that time with a cumulative job loss of just over 1.3 million. The industry has not felt such a contraction in employment in almost 75 years, the last time being September of 1945.

Labor Statistics on Manufacturing Jobs

Below is data pulled from the Bureau of Labor Statistics April report, broken down by state and compared to March 2020 employment numbers. The states posting the highest numbers of lost jobs have been highlighted.

March 2020 job numbersStateApril 2020 job numbersChange% change
272600Alabama248,400-24,200-8.88%
10,700Alaska9,200-1,500-14.02%
176,600Arizona172,700-3,900-2.21%
158100Arkansas150,500-7,600-4.81%
1,299,500California1,180,500-119,000-9.16%
149,500Colorado139,200-10,300-6.89%
161,900Connecticut149,400-12,500-7.72%
26,700Delaware24,300-2,400-8.99%
1,300D.C.1,200-100-7.69%
389,600Florida358,000-31,600-8.11%
399,200Georgia359,800-39,400-9.87%
13,900Hawaii10,700-3,200-23.02%
67,500Idaho66,400-1,100-1.63%
571,600Illinois521,700-49,900-8.73%
526,700Indiana448,400-78,300-14.87%
221,800Iowa211,400-10,400-4.69%
168,200Kansas157,200-11,000-6.54%
251,200Kentucky197,000-54,200-21.58%
135,100Louisiana125,000-10,100-7.48%
52,400Maine44,000-8,400-16.03%
112,800Maryland98,700-14,100-12.50%
242,000Massachusetts221,000-21,000-8.68%
615,900Michigan442,900-173,000-28.09%
317,200Minnesota295,900-21,300-6.72%
147,500Mississippi136,000-11,500-7.80%
274,700Missouri240,000-34,700-12.63%
19,900Montana17,900-2,000-10.05%
98,900Nebraska95,800-3,100-3.13%
58,500Nevada54,300-4,200-7.18%
70,600New Hampshire65,200-5,400-7.65%
251,700New Jersey218,500-33,200-13.19%
28,300New Mexico23,400-4,900-17.31%
435,900New York355,300-80,600-18.49%
470,800North Carolina419,800-51,000-10.83%
25,600North Dakota24,700-900-3.52%
697,700Ohio600,100-97,600-13.99%
135,400Oklahoma130,600-4,800-3.55%
192,500Oregon181,700-10,800-5.61%
571,100Pennsylvania497,300-73,800-12.92%
39,500Rhode Island37,200-2,300-5.82%
258,400South Carolina245,200-13,200-5.11%
43,600South Dakota42,700-900-2.06%
350,600Tennessee301,900-48,700-13.89%
904,100Texas858,800-45,300-5.01%
135,500Utah134,100-1,400-1.03%
29,000Vermont24,500-4,500-15.52%
239,900Virginia233,200-6,700-2.79%
289,600Washington261,500-28,100-9.70%
46,200West Virginia43,600-2,600-5.63%
478,000Wisconsin438,100-39,900-8.35%
9,900Wyoming9,700-200-2.02%
74,800Puerto Rico70,600-4,200-5.61%
800Virgin Islands80000.00%
1272100011,396,000-1,325,000-10.42%

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Nearly 10K Manufacturing Jobs Added in March in 12 States

Despite a shrinking job market due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the manufacturing sector showed job growth in twelve states.

A person cutting metal. Manufacturing jobs like this can pay well.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, US manufacturing jobs showed growth in twelve states.

Over 700,000 workers lost their jobs in March across all sectors of the economy; 34,000 of those were manufacturing jobs. While news of large manufacturing layoffs and furloughs like ones at GE and Boeing have sparked alarm about the strength of the industry as a whole, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows manufacturing posting significantly less than 1% job loss across all states. Twelve states, including Alabama, Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Louisana, New Jersey, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, and Utah all posted gains in employment that totaled 9200 jobs during the month of March. Additionally, four states reported no job losses.

Data below is broken down by state and compared to February 2020 employment numbers. All data was sourced from the US Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Updated March employment numbers can be found in our next post regarding April unemployment. These numbers were updated and released by the BOL on May 22, 2020.

Manufacturing Jobs Data by State

StateFeb 2020March 2020change% change
Alabama270,4002725002,1000.78%
Alaska11,20010900-300-2.68%
Arizona176,9001773004000.23%
Arkansas159,600158100-1,500-0.94%
California1,306,6001,304,500-2,100-0.16%





Colorado150,500149,000-1,500-1.00%
Connecticut161,300162,1008000.50%
Delaware26,80026,600-200-0.75%
District of Columbia1,4001,300-100-7.14%
Florida388,100389,1001,0000.26%





Georgia402,000401,100-900-0.22%
Hawaii13,90013,90000.00%
Idaho67,50067,7002000.30%
Illinois573,300573,200-100-0.02%
Indiana532,900530,100-2,800-0.53%





Iowa222,300221,800-500-0.22%
Kansas167,500168,2007000.42%
Kentucky252,200251,700-500-0.20%
Louisiana133,900135,3001,4001.05%
Maine52,30052,100-200-0.38%





Maryland113,700112,500-1,200-1.06%
Massachusetts243,000242,800-200-0.08%
Michigan621,600619,200-2,400-0.39%
Minnesota318,100317,400-700-0.22%
Mississippi148,600147,700-900-0.61%





Missouri276,300274,600-1,700-0.62%
Montana20,20020,000-200-0.99%
Nebraska99,00098,900-100-0.10%
Nevada59,00058,400-600-1.02%
New Hampshire71,20070,800-400-0.56%





New Jersey251,800252,7009000.36%
New Mexico28,80028,80000.00%
New York436,600435,800-800-0.18%
North Carolina476,700473,000-3,700-0.78%
North Dakota25,60025,7001000.39%





Ohio700,900698,300-2,600-0.37%
Oklahoma137,600137,400-200-0.15%
Oregon193,200192,300-900-0.47%
Pennsylvania573,700571,000-2,700-0.47%
Rhode Island39,20039,5003000.77%





South Carolina258,400258,40000.00%
South Dakota43,40043,8004000.92%
Tennessee354,100353,900-200-0.06%
Texas910,500900,700-9,800-1.08%
Utah135,400136,3009000.66%





Vermont29,30029,000-300-1.02%
Virginia241,400240,100-1,300-0.54%
Washington290,900290,000-900-0.31%
West Virginia46,20045,800-400-0.87%
Wisconsin477,600477,400-200-0.04%





Wyoming10,00010,00000.00%
Puerto Rico75,30075,000-300-0.40%
Virgin Islands80080000.00%






Totals: 		12,778,70012744500
-0.27%
A chart showing manufacturing job numbers by state.