Factory Closures Are Concentrated Among Small and Young Establishments
This chart compares annual BLS manufacturing-establishment closing rates by prior-year employment and establishment age. A closing means an employment unit went from positive March employment to zero or no reported March employment; it does not show that a physical plant was demolished or that its equipment disappeared.
A BLS closing is an employment-unit event, not proof that a physical factory was demolished or replaced. Establishments with 100 or more employees are omitted because the published cells are suppressed.
What does it show?
The smallest establishments accounted for 77.1% of closures, and young establishments closed about 3.9 times as often as those at least ten years old.
Methodology
BLS annual Business Employment Dynamics research data for manufacturing, using Table 3-B-E and base establishment size. A closing establishment had positive employment in March of the prior year and zero or no reported employment in March of the current year. Size therefore means prior-March employment; age is measured from first positive employment. Rates divide closing establishments by all establishments in the same age or size category. Cells for establishments with 100 or more employees are suppressed and omitted. A closure is an employment-unit event, not proof that a physical factory was demolished, that its equipment was retired, or that it was replaced by one of the projects in the construction series.