How do manufacturing employees compare to other job sectors?

The US Bureau of Census shared some stats on the 15 million manufacturing employees a few months ago and their findings were not a surprise for those working in the sector – however, they may be a surprise to those not so familiar with the manufacturing community:

Compared with all workers, people who work in the manufacturing industry were older, had less formal education, were mostly men, were more likely to work full-time, year-round, and earned more than their neighbors on average.

Manufacturing industry employees work in hundreds of occupations, which can be organized into five broad groups. Almost half of workers were in production, transportation, and material moving occupations (49.2 percent) while management, business, science, and arts occupations comprised 30.0 percent. Other jobs within the manufacturing industry include sales and office occupations; natural resources, construction, and maintenance occupations; and service occupations.

More on the study at the US Dept of Commerce website