Frequently Asked Questions

 

  • More than 500,000 New Yorkers work in industrial businesses. We manufactured ventilators and 3D printed and sewed PPE that kept New Yorkers alive and safe during COVID-19. We fabricate components for subways and buses. We produce and bring you food and beverages. We repair, drive, and deliver every product and component you use on a daily basis. We maintain streets, parks, and infrastructure. We distribute and install electricity systems to keep the lights on. We build and maintain housing. We install water and stormwater piping and recycle and compost your discards to ensure a sustainable future in New York.

  • You’d be surprised that most of those empty-looking buildings hold over 40,000 businesses. While the average employer has less than 10 workers, most have been around 20+ years. The reason these buildings have few windows is on purpose, a design choice from WW2 where U.S. manufacturing facilities had to limit light exiting the buildings in order to keep German spy planes from observing the 24-7 factory operations.

  • Nope. In fact, today we have over 5,000 manufacturing businesses still in the city, employing 52,000 people. While the largest number of manufacturers across New York City are in food and textile manufacturing, the city has a robust advanced manufacturing sector. There are over 350 metal fabrication manufacturing companies, over 100 chemical manufacturers, 970 garment manufacturers, over 1,000 food manufacturers, and close to 125 electronics manufacturers across the city. Almost three-quarters of our manufacturers are family-owned. Many of these companies are making products you might find in your building, subway, or the plane you fly today.

  • E-commerce requires warehouses and logistics for products to arrive at your door! The transportation, warehousing, and wholesale trade sector is the largest of the industrial sectors, with over 19,000 companies and over 200,000 employees. This sector represents not only growth in traditional modes of logistics, but new opportunities in last-mile delivery which include e-bike deliveries.

  • No doubt, the industrial sector, like others, has a way to go to be better partners with our environment. Like other industries, as we’ve learned about impacts, we’ve become regulated and modified our materials and processes. Now, many of us take waste and upcycle new products from it. We recognize that the future requires our industries to do our work differently.

  • No! These jobs offer tremendous growth opportunities. Many individuals begin their journey in apprentice or similar entry-level roles. From there, they can advance into technical roles, ranging from running operational production or goods movement, monitoring production, to management as time goes on. Oftentimes, these companies are small and family owned, they prefer to promote from within. Other companies have roles that require technical skills, think accounting, marketing, office management, and, of course, engineering and technology management.

  • With an average wage of $65,000—nearly $75,000 if you include benefits—industrial businesses pay more than two times the average wages of the retail and hospitality sectors. And these are jobs that don’t require formal college certification. You can just build transferable skills on-the-job while getting paid, rather than having to accrue debt through school.

  • Can’t deny that more needs to be done. NYC compared to the nation is doing better on diversity. New York City represents a significantly more diverse labor force, where 73% of Industrial workers are non-white, and in boroughs like Brooklyn 36% of the workforce is Black, and 34% are female. But this doesn’t account for the growth of our minority and women-led companies that have grown within the small manufacturing and maker community. For example, of the 1,500 members of Made in NYC, about 60% are minority and women-led.

  • No! As many as 2.1 million manufacturing jobs will be unfilled through 2030, according to Deloitte. This could cost the U.S. economy $1 trillion. The nature of manufacturing is changing. Roles still require hands-on skills, but now also require digital and programming skills as functions shift to robotics and other computer controlled processes. Sectors like transportation and warehousing, the largest of the industrial sectors in the city, will grow by 19% in the next 10 years. Other sectors such as utilities, and waste management will have more modest growth of 13.2% and 10.3% respectively.

  • We would lose more than we’d gain if we didn’t support a baseline of industrial businesses. The catalytic impact they have beyond the essential service they provide is a driver for our economy. For example, manufacturing businesses create jobs. For every manufacturing job, there are 7 indirect jobs created in the economy. Compare that to hospitality sectors, where for every 1 direct hospitality job, only 1.5 indirect jobs are created. This doesn’t even account for the critical role industrial businesses play in supporting the culture and diversity of NYC. Food and drink distribution support restaurants; set and costume fabrication support theater productions; raw materials supply chains support new housing development. Manufacturers impact the entire City ecosystem from tourism, to food, to innovation that we consider integral to NYC’s identify.

  • Innovation typically is a result of a problem or something spurring change, and industrial companies are gatekeepers that are leveraged during times of crises. The knowledge behind making complex and varied products, results in a diverse knowledge and infrastructure that is called upon during crises. During COVID-19, there were supply shortages, and many of our manufacturers were able to pivot their production lines to manufacture PPE. When we lose manufacturing, we lose the ability to quickly design, build, and deliver the products needed to innovate and supply the next emergency, whether global pandemics or climate crises.

  • Is the median wage higher than retail?

    Is NYC one of the top hardware capitals in the world?

    Does putting uses like gyms, bowling or residential in industrial areas hurt the industrial sector?

    Is coffee roasted in NYC?

    Is local-made wine/beer/booze considered manufacturing?

    Does SNL's set get made in Brooklyn?

    Do the majority of Broadway's outfits get manufactured in NYC?

    Is 3D printing considered manufacturing?

    Does greening my community by installing a green roof/bioswale/solar require an industrial business?

    Can I find the Northeast’s first Class 8 regional-haul all electric truck in the Bronx?

    Has a NYC manufacturer built parts for Mars Rover?

    Has a NYC manufacturer built uniforms for USA Olympians?

    Can I join this effort?