Executive Summary
Manufactured goods are ubiquitous at home, in transit, and at work, but the narrow definition of manufacturing industries in national statistics implies that the sector is of only minor importance to economic activity. The traditional finding is that manufacturers’ proportion of gross domestic product (GDP) is only about 11% and manufacturing’s share of economy-wide full-time equivalent employment is just 9%. Since this excludes manufacturing activities such as research and development, corporate management, logistics operations, and advertising and branding, those figures are merely the tip of the iceberg.
The MAPI Foundation finds that manufacturing’s footprint is much larger than merely the value-added at the factory loading dock. Manufacturing plant activities lie near the center of a substantial and complex value chain that is composed of an upstream supply chain that gathers materials and services, and a downstream sales chain that moves goods to market and sells and services and goods. Manufactured goods are also intermediate inputs in nonmanufacturing industries’ supply chains.
The MAPI Foundation’s major findings:
- The manufactured goods value chain, plus manufacturing for other industries’ supply chains, accounts for about one-third of GDP and employment in the United States.
- The domestic manufacturing value-added multiplier is 3.6, which is much higher than conventional calculations. For every dollar of domestic manufacturing value-added destined for manufactured goods for final demand, another $3.60 of value-added is generated elsewhere.
- For each full-time equivalent job in manufacturing dedicated to producing value for final demand, there are 3.4 full-time equivalent jobs created in nonmanufacturing industries.
- Most (54%) of the value-added in manufactured goods destined for final demand is from the downstream sales chain; the upstream supply chain accounts for the remaining 46%.
- Domestic manufacturing accounts for only 22% of the value chain of manufactured goods for final demand. Nonmanufacturing value-added is 53% and imports are another 25%.
- 60% of manufacturing imports ($1,024 billion) are final goods; these directly enter the downstream sales chain. The other $694 billion of manufacturing imports enter the value stream in the upstream supply chain of domestic manufacturing.
- Relative to other industries, manufacturing is efficient in delivering value-added. It takes about 5.8 full-time equivalent manufacturing jobs to achieve $1 million in value-added, compared with 7.7 for both transportation and services, and 16.9 for retail trade.
Introduction
Manufacturing Encompasses More Than Just Factories
Manufacturing industries are a fundamental part of our economy, but national statistics suggest they are of only minor importance. In particular, the economic statistics say that manufacturing’s proportion of final demand or gross domestic product is only about 11% and its share of total employment is just 9%.
As measured by our spending, however, manufacturing certainly seems to be more important than 11% of the total market value of goods and services produced in the economy. We see physical goods surrounding us at home, in transit, at work, and at play. Businesses and governments invest in equipment as well as structures built from manufactured construction materials. Further, a sizable majority of U.S. exports are manufactured goods.
The MAPI Foundation finds that manufacturing’s footprint is much larger than merely the value-added at the factory loading dock. The sector has both an upstream supply chain that includes networks of scientists and engineers, specialized material suppliers, equipment, transportation, and other service providers, plus a downstream sales chain that includes logistics and a global assortment of wholesalers and retailers.
A detailed accounting reveals that the value chain of manufactured goods represents a much larger share of the economy than the 11% generated at factories. Using calculations from U.S. input–output tables, performed for the MAPI Foundation by Inforum at the University of Maryland, we find that sales of manufactured goods and their associated services represent about one-third of total final demand in the economy. The value chain responsible for satisfying this demand stretches across the economy and the world.
A New Model for Manufacturing’s Multiplier Effect
The multiplier effect of spending for manufactured products on nonmanufacturing industries is also much higher than as conventionally measured in the input–output tables. The traditional output multiplier for manufacturing indicates that every dollar in final sales of manufactured products supports an additional $1.40 in upstream supply chain output from nonmanufacturing sectors in the economy.
Unfortunately, this basic multiplier includes final sales of imports and does not count the downstream sales chain. We modify the calculation to make it more meaningful. Removing final sales of imports from the denominator and adding downstream sales chain transactions increases the multiplier effect. With this adjustment, one dollar of domestic manufacturing downstream sales for final demand (the producers’ value at the factory loading dock) drives another $2.70 of supply transactions elsewhere in the economy, downstream and upstream.
This still paints an incomplete picture, however. These multipliers measure the volume of transactions between members in the supply and sales chains and therefore double count. As manufactured material passes to other members in the value chain, each transaction includes the previous step’s transactions.
In this report, the MAPI Foundation introduces a new multiplier that eliminates double counting and provides a more comprehensive treatment of manufacturing. According to our domestic manufacturing value chain multiplier, one dollar of domestic manufacturing value-added destined for manufactured goods final demand generates another $3.60 of value-added elsewhere.
Measuring the Manufacturing Value Chain
Manufacturing plant activities lie near the center of a substantial and complex value chain that is composed of an upstream supply chain that gathers materials and services, and a downstream sales chain that moves goods to market and sells and services manufactured goods. Activities such as research and development, corporate management, logistics operations, and advertising and branding lie outside manufacturing industries’ definition as measured in national statistics. The conventional measurement of the manufacturing economic footprint, therefore, is badly underestimated.
The MAPI Foundation measures the manufacturing value chain in the most inclusive terms but still within the framework of national statistics. The method we use provides a better measure of the size of the manufacturing value chain and improves the understanding of the reach and importance of manufacturing operations and the goods produced. We answer the question of why the amount spent to purchase manufactured goods is so much higher than the manufacturing plant activity alone.
The MAPI Foundation finds that manufactured goods’ value is not limited to the factory floor. Other contributors include corporate R&D centers that advance product and manufacturing technology, the utility industry that produces the factory’s electricity, the transportation industry that delivers output to market, the wholesale and retail industry that performs sales and service activities, and providers of financial services and insurance. Our analysis details each industry’s contributions in terms of value-added and employment.
If you would like to download the full 17-page report from the Manufacturers Alliance for Productivity and Innovation, log in to the Members Only area at HeatTreat.net and click on the “Manufacturing Footprint report” in the “Resource Library” box on the front page of the website.
Report provided by Dan Meckstroth, PhD, Vice President and Chief Economist at MAPI.