Manufacturing Indicators

 

Quarterly Employment and Wages

Employment in manufacturing has remained consistent across all counties since Q1 2012. Employment experienced slight increases between Q1 and Q2 2020, the beginning of COVID-19 lockdown restrictions. Given the difficulty of conducting manufacturing while social distancing, these numbers are surprising. 

That being said, although employment didn't take a hit the average wage was. For instance, Escambia County's average manufacturing wage dropped from $6,898 to $5,221, (a 24% decrease) between Q1 and Q2 2020. This could mean that employment was protected for manufacturing workers during the COVID-19 lockdown, but wages were either cut or halted due to operations being stalled.