A Few Fast Facts on Plastics and the Economy

• The plastics industry is one of the largest manufacturing industries in the United States, providing significantly to the nation's economy.
  
  
• The U.S. plastics industry provides more than 1.4 million jobs.
  
  
• The U.S. plastics industry creates $345 billion in shipments.
  
  
• There are nearly 20,000 plastics facilities in the United States.
  
  
• 15 percent of plastics industry jobs are due to exports.
  
  
• The U.S. plastics industry had a $2.2-billion trade surplus in 2003.
  
  
• The plastics industry has a presence in every state.
  
  
• Plastics industry employment has grown steadily in the past 20 years, increasing at an average 2 percent annually.
  
  
• Since 1980, U.S. plastics industry shipments have grown 3 percent per year.
  
  
• Over the past 22 years, plastics industry employment, real shipments and real value added grew faster than manufacturing as a whole.

The above information came from the SPI Plastics Data Source, which also includes individual state data.

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