United States Plastics Industry Association Releases 2025 Report: Industry Resilience Highlights Ongoing Contribution to US Economy

The Plastics Industry Association (PLASTICS) has released its "2025 Industry Size and Impact Report." This report is the association's annual flagship analysis, emphasizing that despite ongoing challenges and uncertainties in the industry, the positive contributions of the plastics sector to the U.S. economy continue to persist.

The report, based on comprehensive economic data, focuses on analyzing key manufacturing indicators—including equipment investment, employment situation, shipments, and overall capacity—clearly demonstrating the strength and resilience of the plastics industry.

The U.S. Plastics Industry: Steady Development, Far-Reaching Impact, Critically Important

Dr. Perc Pineda, Chief Economist of the Plastics Industry Association (PLASTICS), provided an overview of the key findings of the report during an online economic executive briefing aimed at association members, the media, and other stakeholders.

The core highlights disclosed in this briefing include:

In 2024, the U.S. plastic industry is large in scale, creating over 1 million jobs (specifically 1.0665 million), with shipments amounting to $550.7 billion.

Including suppliers to the plastics industry, U.S. plastic-related jobs would increase to 1.71 million, and total shipments would rise to $754.5 billion.

As a successful example of the U.S. economy, the employment in the plastic manufacturing industry grew at an average annual rate of 1.3% from 2014 to 2024, surpassing the overall manufacturing industry's average annual employment growth rate of 0.5% during the same period.

In terms of total output, the plastic products sector within the plastic industry ranked eighth among all industries in the United States in 2023 (the latest year for which data is available).

In 2024, Texas has the largest employment in the plastic industry, followed by Ohio, Michigan, California, and Pennsylvania. All 50 states and the District of Columbia have plastic industry layouts.

Matt Seaholm, President and CEO of the Plastics Industry Association, stated: "Despite the economic challenges faced over the past year, the plastics industry has demonstrated its strong resilience and stability. This report highlights the impact of the industry, as well as our ability to adapt to change and innovate to meet evolving demands. It also reflects the strength and determination of industry practitioners, as well as the important role we play as a key driving force of the U.S. economy."

Dr. Percy Pineda stated, "This year's report once again confirms the resilience of the U.S. plastics industry. For many years, the economic impact of this industry (in some aspects exceeding that of overall manufacturing) has consistently remained positive, and this trend is expected to continue in the future."