Chemical Manufacturing

Industry Overview
Vital to industries such as construction, motor vehicles, paper, electronics, transportation, agriculture, and pharmaceuticals, chemicals are an essential component of manufacturing. Although some chemical manufacturers produce and sell consumer products such as soap, bleach, and cosmetics, most chemical products are used as intermediate products for other goods.

Chemical manufacturing is divided into seven segments, six of which are covered here: Basic chemicals; synthetic materials, including resin, synthetic rubber, and artificial and synthetic fibers and filaments; agricultural chemicals, including pesticides, fertilizer, and other agricultural chemicals; paint, coating, and adhesives; cleaning preparations, including soap, cleaning compounds, and toilet preparations; and other chemical products. The seventh segment, pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing, is covered in a separate industry profile. 

 Although development of nanotechnology has been slow in chemical manufacturing, research and development in this area has been increasing, and should continue to increase. Advances in nanotechnology in the chemical manufacturing industry could potentially lead to the development of new, safer, and more effective products.

Basic Chemicals
The basic chemicals segment produces various petrochemicals, gases, dyes, and pigments. Petrochemicals contain carbon and hydrogen and are made primarily from petroleum and natural gas. The production of both organic and inorganic chemicals occurs in this segment. Organic chemicals are used to make a wide range of products, such as dyes, plastics, and pharmaceutical products; however, the majority of these chemicals are used in the production of other chemicals. Industrial inorganic chemicals usually are made from salts, metal compounds, other minerals, and the atmosphere. In addition to producing solid and liquid chemicals, firms involved in inorganic chemical manufacturing produce industrial gases such as oxygen, nitrogen, and helium. Many inorganic chemicals serve as processing ingredients in the manufacture of chemicals, but do not appear in the final products because they are used as catalysts -- chemicals that speed up or otherwise aid a reaction.

Synthetic Materials
The synthetic materials segment produces a wide variety of finished products as well as raw materials, including common plastic materials such as polyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and polystyrene. Among products into which these plastics can be made are loudspeakers, toys, PVC pipes, and beverage bottles. Motor vehicle manufacturers are particularly large users of such products. Plastic materials used for mixing and blending resins on a custom basis also are produced in this industry segment.

Agricultural Chemicals
The agricultural chemical segment, which employs the fewest workers in the chemical industry, supplies farmers and home gardeners with fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides, and other agricultural chemicals. The segment also includes companies involved in the formulation and preparation of agricultural and household pest control chemicals.

Paints, Coatings, and Adhesive Products
The paint, coating, and adhesive products segment includes firms making paints, varnishes, putties, paint removers, sealers, adhesives, glues, and caulking. The construction and furniture industries are large customers of this segment. Other customers range from individuals refurbishing their homes to businesses needing anticorrosive paints that can withstand high temperatures.

Cleaning Preparations
The cleaning preparations segment is the only segment in which much of the production is geared directly toward consumers. The segment includes firms making soaps, detergents, and cleaning preparations. Cosmetics and toiletries, including perfume, lotion, and toothpaste, also are produced in this segment. Households and businesses use these products in many ways, cleaning everything from babies to bridges.

Other Chemical Products
The "other chemical" products segment includes manufacturers of explosives, printing ink, film, toners, matches, and other miscellaneous chemicals. These products are used by consumers or in the manufacture of other products.

Chemicals generally are classified into two groups: commodity chemicals and specialty chemicals. On the one hand, commodity chemical manufacturers produce large quantities of basic and relatively inexpensive compounds in large plants, often built specifically to make one chemical. Most of these basic chemicals are utilized to make more highly refined chemicals used in the production of everyday consumer goods by other industries. On the other hand, specialty chemical manufacturers produce smaller quantities of more expensive chemicals that are used less frequently. Specialty chemical manufacturers often supply larger chemical companies on a contract basis. Many traditional commodity chemical manufacturers are divided into two separate entities, one focused on commodities and the other on specialty chemicals.

The diversity of products produced by the chemical industry also reflects its component establishments. For example, firms producing synthetic materials operated relatively large plants in 2006. By contrast, manufacturers of paints, coatings, and adhesive products had a greater number of establishments, each employing a much smaller number of workers.

The chemical industry segments vary in the degree to which their workers are involved in production activities, administration and management, and research and development. Industries that make products such as cosmetics or paints that are ready for sale to the final consumer employ more administrative and marketing personnel. Industries that market their products mostly to industrial customers generally employ a greater proportion of precision production workers and a lower proportion of unskilled labor.

Chemical firms are concentrated in regions where other manufacturing businesses are located, such as the Great Lakes region near the automotive industry, or the West Coast, near the electronics industry. Chemical plants also are located near the petroleum and natural gas production centers along the Gulf Coast in Texas and Louisiana.

Working Environment 
Manufacturing chemicals usually is a continuous process; this means that, once a process has begun, it cannot be stopped when it is time for workers to go home. Split, weekend, and night shifts are common, and workers on such schedules usually are compensated with higher rates of pay. As a result, the average workweek in the chemical industry was 42.8 hours in 2004, 2.8 hours longer than the average for nondurable-manufacturing industries and 9.1 hours longer than the average for all private industries. The industry employs relatively few part-time workers.

Most jobs in chemical manufacturing are in large establishments. The largest 20 percent of establishments that employed 50 or more workers in 2004 had 80 percent of the industry's jobs. The plants usually are clean, although the continually running machines sometimes are loud and the interior of many plants can be hot. Hardhats and safety goggles are mandatory and worn throughout the plant.

Employment
The chemical and allied products industry employed about 576,000 wage and salary workers in 2006. Most segments of the industry had substantial numbers of jobs as shown below.

Degree Paths into this Industry
The following are descriptions of some of the science and engineering degrees involved in chemical manufacture.

Chemists and materials scientists carry out research over a wide range of activities, including analyzing materials, preparing new materials or modifying existing ones, studying process chemistry pathways for new or existing products, and formulating cosmetics, household care products, or paints and coatings. They also try to develop new chemicals for specific applications and new applications for existing chemicals. The most senior chemists sometimes advance to management positions. Although chemical companies hire some chemists with bachelor's degrees, a master's or doctoral degree is becoming more important for chemist jobs.

Chemical engineers design equipment and develop processes for manufacturing chemicals on a large scale. They conduct experiments to learn how processes behave and to discover new chemical products and processes. A bachelor's degree is essential for all of these jobs, and a master's degree may be preferred or required for some.

Engineering and science technicians assist chemists and engineers in research activities and may conduct some research independently. Those with bachelor's degrees in chemistry or graduates of 2-year technical institutes usually fill these positions. Some graduates of engineering programs start as technicians until an opportunity to advance into an engineering position arises.

Industry Forecast
Employment is projected to decline, and applicants for jobs are expected to face keen competition. Although output is expected to grow, wage and salary employment in the chemical manufacturing industry, excluding pharmaceuticals and medicine, is projected to decline by 16 percent. The expected decline in employment growth can be attributed to trends affecting the U.S. and global economies. A number of factors will influence chemical industry employment, such as more efficient production processes, increased plant automation, the state of the national and world economy, company mergers and consolidation, increased foreign competition, the shifting of production activities to foreign countries, and environmental health and safety concerns and legislation. Another trend in the chemical industry is the rising demand for specialty chemicals. Chemical companies are finding that, in order to remain competitive, they must differentiate their products and produce specialty chemicals, such as advanced polymers and plastics designed for customer-specific uses--for example, a durable body panel on an automobile.

Improvements in production technology have reduced the need for workers in production; installation, maintenance, and repair; and material moving occupations, which account for large proportions of jobs in the chemical industry. Both the application of computerized controls in standard production and the growing manufacture of specialty chemicals requiring precise, computer-controlled production methods will reduce the need for workers to monitor or directly operate equipment. Although production facilities will be easier to run with the increased use of computerized controls, the new production methods will require workers with a better understanding of the systems.

Foreign competition has been intensifying in most industries, and the chemical industry is no exception. Globalization--the increase in international trade and rapidly expanding foreign production capabilities--should intensify competition. Pressure to reduce costs and streamline production will result in mergers and consolidations of companies both within the United States and abroad. Mergers and consolidations are allowing chemical companies to increase profits by eliminating duplicate tasks and departments and shifting operations to locations in which costs are lowest. U.S. companies are expected to move some production activities to developing countries--in East Asia and Latin America, for example--to take advantage of rapidly expanding markets.

The volatility of crude oil and natural gas prices has impacted the chemical manufacturing industry; the cost of these resources is particularly volatile in the United States. Likewise, prices of chemical feedstocks--like ethane or propane, which are used to produce petrochemicals, plastics, fertilizers, and other products--are expected to remain high. As a result, production of such products may shift overseas, where the costs of feedstocks are lower.

Although the industry is expected to increase spending on research and development, a growing amount of this investment is going overseas, thus limiting employment growth in this segment. In addition, Federal Government investment in research and development has been decreasing, a trend that, if it continues, could further restrict job growth.

The chemical industry invests billions of dollars yearly in technology to reduce pollution and clean up waste sites. Concerns about the costs of waste and hazardous chemicals cleanup, and their effects on the environment, may spur producers to create chemicals with fewer or less dangerous byproducts or with byproducts that can be recycled or disposed of cleanly.

The factors influencing employment in the chemical manufacturing industry will affect different segments of the industry to varying degrees. Only one segment -- cleaning preparations, including soap, cleaning compounds, and toilet preparations -- is projected to grow. Three segments -- other chemical products, basic chemical manufacturing, and synthetic materials -- are projected to lose jobs.

Related Degree Fields

• Chemical Engineering
• Chemistry
• Computing
• Engineering
• Engineering Technology
• Materials Engineering
• Mathematics
• Medicine
• Science

Professional Associations

• American Chemical Society
• American Chemistry Council
• American Institute of Chemical Engineers
• Chemical Industries Association

Note: Some resources in this section are provided by the US Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.