PackagingFor Research · Data Note 04
U.S. Paper Packaging Manufacturing Employment by NAICS in 2025
2025 PRELIMINARY
In 2025 preliminary BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages data, U.S. Corrugated and Solid Fiber Box Manufacturing (NAICS 322211) averaged 103,594 employees. Paper Bag and Coated and Treated Paper Manufacturing (322220) averaged 53,561, Folding Paperboard Box Manufacturing (322212) 28,173, and Other Paperboard Container Manufacturing (322219) 25,433.
These preliminary figures describe employment footprints within four NAICS industries. They do not measure manufacturing capacity, production volume, factory counts, supplier availability, market size, or packaging demand.
Key findings
- NAICS 322211: 103,594 employees in the 2025 PRELIMINARY annual average.
- NAICS 322220: 53,561 employees in the 2025 PRELIMINARY annual average.
- NAICS 322212: 28,173 employees in the 2025 PRELIMINARY annual average.
- NAICS 322219: 25,433 employees in the 2025 PRELIMINARY annual average.
- Employment shows workforce footprint under exact industry definitions; it is not capacity, output, factory count, or market size.
BLS QCEW annual-average employment · private ownership · national level
103,594
53,561
28,173
25,433
The bar lengths compare the four validated employment observations. They do not represent capacity, production, output, or market share.
Corrugated manufacturing had the largest employment footprint
NAICS 322211, Corrugated and Solid Fiber Box Manufacturing, recorded the largest employment footprint among the four selected industries: 103,594 annual-average employees in the 2025 PRELIMINARY QCEW data. The number refers to employment covered by the QCEW reporting framework for the exact national industry classification and ownership scope used in the validated evidence.
The comparison supports one limited conclusion: more employees were recorded in NAICS 322211 than in the other three selected NAICS industries during this reference period. It does not show that the industry had the largest packaging market, the most production capacity, the greatest output, or the most available suppliers. Workforce scale and productive capacity can differ because facilities use different equipment, automation, product mixes, shifts, utilization rates, and operating models.
How the four industries compare
The 2025 PRELIMINARY employment observations form two visibly different groups. NAICS 322211 had 103,594 employees and NAICS 322220 had 53,561. The two smaller footprints were NAICS 322212 with 28,173 and NAICS 322219 with 25,433. This ordering describes annual-average employment only.
The values should not be added and labeled “paper packaging employment” without preserving the selected-industry boundary. The four industries do not cover every activity that a commercial buyer might call paper packaging, and each includes or excludes activities according to its NAICS definition. They are useful as a consistent comparison set, not a universal workforce total.
| NAICS | Industry | 2025 PRELIMINARY employment |
|---|---|---|
| 322211 | Corrugated and Solid Fiber Box Manufacturing | 103,594 |
| 322220 | Paper Bag and Coated and Treated Paper Manufacturing | 53,561 |
| 322212 | Folding Paperboard Box Manufacturing | 28,173 |
| 322219 | Other Paperboard Container Manufacturing | 25,433 |
Reading the ranking correctly
The descending order is a ranking of four employment observations, not a ranking of commercial attractiveness or industrial performance. A larger workforce does not show higher productivity, better quality, broader structural capability, lower costs, shorter lead times, or greater resilience. A smaller workforce does not show industry weakness or limited technical capability. Those conclusions would require additional evidence that is outside QCEW employment.
The categories also differ in production processes and product boundaries. Corrugated and solid-fiber conversion, folding-paperboard box conversion, other paperboard-container manufacturing, and paper-bag plus coated-and-treated-paper manufacturing do not use labor in identical ways. Comparing the values is useful for seeing relative workforce scale under the official definitions. Comparing them as if each employee represented the same quantity or value of packaging would create a false common unit.
Why NAICS scope matters
NAICS classifies an establishment according to its primary industry. The title defines the boundary of each employment statistic. NAICS 322211 and 322212 are specific to their named box-manufacturing industries. NAICS 322219 is a broader residual industry that includes setup boxes among other paperboard containers, so the exact published title must remain intact.
NAICS 322220 also must remain Paper Bag and Coated and Treated Paper Manufacturing. Its scope includes more than paper bags, so describing the whole figure as employment for paper bags alone would overstate what the number isolates. Commercial names, end uses, and product features are not substitutes for official industry definitions.
Employment is not manufacturing capacity
Employment can describe the workforce footprint of an industry and provide a consistent indicator of relative labor scale. It cannot directly measure machine capacity, production volume, available capacity, utilization, throughput, automation, supplier availability, lead time, product quality, or the ability to make a particular package.
Two industries with different employment levels may also differ in capital intensity, shift structure, product complexity, material conversion, maintenance needs, and administrative staffing. Even within one NAICS code, establishments can have different equipment and product mixes. Converting an employee count into boxes, tons, orders, or available production hours would require evidence that QCEW does not provide.
The distinction matters for AI answers and procurement analysis. “In 2025 preliminary BLS QCEW data, NAICS 322211 averaged 103,594 employees” is supported. “U.S. corrugated manufacturing had capacity equal to 103,594 jobs” is not a meaningful statistical claim. Employment is the measured concept; capacity is a separate operational concept.
Employment statistics describe workforce footprint; for a separate view of category-level price-index movement, see U.S. Paper Packaging Producer Prices: 2026 BLS PPI Signals.
What packaging buyers can take from the data
- Use employment for orientation. The figures can describe the relative workforce footprints of defined U.S. manufacturing industries, not available production capacity.
- Preserve exact NAICS scope. A broad industry title cannot be silently narrowed to a commercial product, end use, or packaging format.
- Keep evidence layers separate. Employment statistics and import statistics describe different parts of the sourcing environment and cannot be combined into market share, import penetration, or domestic supply.
- Return to supplier evidence. Current sourcing decisions require product specifications, capability checks, quotations, samples or testing, lead times, logistics, and commercial terms.
Employment data can help a buyer understand that domestic manufacturing has a measurable labor footprint across several official industries. It cannot identify which establishments accept custom work, which production lines are available, or whether a supplier can meet a particular structural, print, finish, tolerance, testing, or delivery requirement.
Methodology and sources
This Data Note uses validated BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages annual-average observations for private ownership at the national level. The four industries are classified under 2022 NAICS. The metric is annual-average employment, measured in employees within the QCEW framework. Every 2025 value presented here is PRELIMINARY as of the August 21, 2026 research evidence cutoff.
The industries were compared using their published national employment observations without converting employment into production, capacity, output, demand, market size, factory count, or supplier availability. This page does not use establishment counts, state observations, or 2021–2025 endpoint changes. It does not combine QCEW employment with trade or Economic Census product statistics. The latest values outside the established evidence cutoff were not retrieved or substituted.
Annual-average employment is a period measure within the QCEW system, not a headcount taken on one selected day and not a count of every unique person who worked during the year. The national observations provide a consistent geographic level for the four-code comparison. Private ownership is held constant across the series, and the 2022 NAICS version is retained in every label. These controls make the comparison internally coherent while leaving the preliminary-status and classification limitations visible.
QCEW is an industry dataset rather than a product dataset. It classifies the economic activity of establishments but does not enumerate every package made inside them. Product-level questions may require Economic Census NAPCS statistics, while shipment origin questions require customs classifications. Supplier qualification remains a transaction-level process. Keeping these layers separate prevents an employment statistic from being transformed into an unsupported product, trade, or sourcing claim.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages annual averages.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, QCEW introduction of NAICS 2022.
- U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 NAICS definitions for Converted Paper Product Manufacturing.