The first table lists manufacturing jobs for the state and the Reno-Sparks metro area in August of each year, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Current Employment Statistics survey. The second table counts manufacturing establishments and their employees in each county we draw from, from the Census Bureau's County Business Patterns for 2023. The two sources measure different things at different dates, so read each table on its own.
What stands out
The metro series stepped up from 20,500 in August 2017 to 26,300 in 2018, was 27,200 in 2019 and 26,000 in 2020, reached 31,100 in 2022, was 29,800 in 2024 and stood at 32,000 in 2026. The share of metro jobs in manufacturing moved from 8.4 percent to 11.2 percent over the same years.
By county, Washoe County had 466 manufacturing establishments and 17,068 employees in 2023, the largest count in the table. Storey County had only 14 establishments but 8,699 employees, a sign of workplaces on a large scale; the Storey County data page follows that county from 2015. Statewide, the Census counts 2,043 manufacturing establishments with 64,363 employees.
How it was measured
Current Employment Statistics asks employers how many people were on payroll in the pay period that includes the 12th of the month; the Nevada series in the table is seasonally adjusted. County Business Patterns counts establishments, meaning single business locations with paid employees, and their employment for the week of March 12. An establishment is a place of business, not a company, and a company with two plants counts twice.
How to use these numbers
Manufacturing jobs show how many people work in plants that run machines, and so roughly where machinery needs parts and repair. The tables make no forecast. For the places around our shop, see the Reno page, and for the businesses that keep machines running, the industrial businesses by county page.
