The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis' FRED database reported U.S. manufacturing employment at 12,638 thousand persons in August 2026, up from 12,622 in July. The figure is from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Employment Situation release, Table B-1: Employees on nonfarm payrolls by industry sector and selected industry detail, and is seasonally adjusted. The series, identified as MANEMP and titled All Employees, Manufacturing, uses source code CES3000000001 and is published monthly in thousands of persons.
It is part of the Current Employment Statistics establishment survey and is classified under Population, Employment and Labor Markets / Manufacturing. Recent readings show 12,608 in June, 12,595 in May and 12,597 in April. The FRED chart contains 1,052 observations from January 1, 1939 through August 1, 2026.
The data were updated on September 4, 2026, at 8:27 a.m. CDT, with the next release scheduled for October 2, 2026. FRED also listed scheduled maintenance for FRED, ALFRED and FRED Account on September 19, 2026, from 8:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. Central Time.
