The American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com) has published the 2022 edition of the Guide to the Business of Chemistry, a comprehensive profile of the U.S. chemistry industry and its contributions to the domestic and global economies.
American chemistry is the world’s second-largest producer, providing 11% of its chemicals and over 10% of all U.S. goods exports. It is one of America’s largest manufacturing industries, a $517 billion enterprise providing 537,000 skilled, high-paying jobs. For every chemistry industry job, more than seven jobs are generated elsewhere in the economy, totaling more than 4.1 million chemistry-dependent jobs. Industries that rely on chemistry include building and construction, automotive, computers and electronics, medical equipment and supplies, furniture, household appliances, agriculture, and many more.
“In addition to providing materials used to fight COVID-19, the U.S. chemical industry is a leader in capital investment, with more than $30 billion in new capital spending in 2021,” said Martha Moore, chief economist at ACC. “This investment includes projects to expand capacity and to support sustainability and circularity in industry operations. Innovation into materials, applications and processes is key to advances in human development, and the U.S. chemical industry invested more than $11 billion in R&D activities last year.”
Prepared annually by ACC’s Economics and Statistics Department, the Guide to the Business of Chemistry divides the U.S. chemical industry into more than 30 categories of production, ranging from inorganic chemicals to plastic resins, adhesives and sealants to oilfield chemicals, and fertilizers to consumer products. Within each segment, the report highlights distinct characteristics including growth dynamics, markets, new developments, and other issues affecting each sector.
Individual sections of the guide cover a variety of topics in detail. These include financial performance; U.S. and global trade; innovation; capital investment; employment; environmental, health and safety statistics; energy; and distribution. Charts and graphs illustrate data and provide comparisons with the past several years.