blackboxcake.com Cake Baking & Decorating

Statistics

Commercial Bakery Production Statistics: Benchmarks and Injury Data

Historical U.S. commercial bakery benchmarks, workforce measures, and occupational injury counts and rates.

November 12, 2026 8 min read blackboxcake.com Editorial Team

Contents

Commercial bakery production statistics: 2002 manufacturing benchmarks

The 2002 Economic Census offers a detailed historical snapshot of U.S. commercial bakeries classified as NAICS 311812. It recorded 2,616 establishments and reported $23,814,681 thousand in total value of shipments. That total included $20,514,640 thousand in primary-products shipments and $833,842 thousand in secondary-products shipments. These are Census amounts in thousands of dollars for 2002; they should be read as period-specific manufacturing measures, not as present-day market values. Source: 2002 Economic Census, Table 3

2002 commercial bakery measureReported value
Establishments2,616
Total value of shipments ($1,000)23,814,681
Primary-products value of shipments ($1,000)20,514,640
Secondary-products value of shipments ($1,000)833,842
Value added ($1,000)16,779,460
Total cost of materials ($1,000)7,247,028

The same table reports value added of $16,779,460 thousand and total cost of materials of $7,247,028 thousand. These indicators describe different aspects of manufacturing activity: shipments record the value of goods shipped, while value added and materials cost are separate Census measures. They should not be combined into an additional estimate without more definitions and source data. Source: 2002 Economic Census, Table 3

The Census figures are specific to commercial bakeries in that report and year. They provide a useful baseline for understanding the scale and structure represented in the historical industry classification. They do not establish how the sector has changed since 2002: the observations here do not provide a continuous annual shipment or value-added series.

Commercial bakery production statistics: 2002 workforce and establishments

The 2002 report counted 157,916 all employees and an annual average of 82,676 production workers in U.S. commercial bakeries. The “all employees” measure follows the table’s stated payroll-period definition: specified production-worker pay periods and the March 12 payroll period for other employees. The annual production-worker figure is an average for the year, so it is not the same type of measure as a single payroll-period headcount. Source: 2002 Economic Census, Table 3 and note 3

The Census also reported 2,247 companies. Its establishment-size counts show 1,730 establishments with 1 to 19 employees, 511 with 20 to 99 employees, and 375 with 100 or more employees. These are establishment counts grouped by employee range. A company and an establishment are distinct units in the table, and the figures should not be treated as interchangeable counts of businesses or locations. Source: 2002 Economic Census, Tables 3–4

2002 establishment measureCount
Companies2,247
Establishments with 1 to 19 employees1,730
Establishments with 20 to 99 employees511
Establishments with 100 or more employees375

Taken together, the workforce and size measures show that the 2002 commercial-bakery population included many establishments in the 1-to-19-employee category, alongside hundreds in each of the larger reported ranges. The table provides counts by category, not detailed staffing distributions within each range. It therefore does not show how many employees worked at a typical establishment or how staffing varied among bakeries in the same category. Source: 2002 Economic Census, Table 4

Commercial bakery production statistics: workplace injury counts in 2022–2024

Bureau of Labor Statistics Table 2 reports nonfatal occupational injury and illness case counts in thousands. For commercial bakeries, NAICS 311812, the total recordable count was 5.4 thousand cases in 2022 and 5.2 thousand in 2024. The table also separates cases involving days away from work, job restriction, or transfer from other recordable cases. In the combined category, the reported total was 4.0 thousand in 2022 and 3.6 thousand in 2024. Sources: BLS Table 2, 2022; BLS Table 2, 2024

Nonfatal case count (thousands)20222024
Total recordable cases5.45.2
Cases with days away, job restriction, or transfer: total4.03.6
Cases with days away from work2.32.0
Cases with days of job transfer or restriction1.71.6
Other recordable cases1.41.6

The table’s combined days-away/restriction/transfer field is a reported category in its own right. Its components are also reported separately; the combined figure is not defined here as the sum of the component fields. Counts are rounded to tenths of thousands in the source table, so they should retain that displayed precision. The available count observations cover 2022 and 2024; no 2023 count is included. Sources: BLS Table 2, 2022; BLS Table 2, 2024

Commercial bakery production statistics: injury rates in 2022–2024

BLS Table 1 reports incidence rates per 100 full-time-equivalent workers. The total recordable case rate for commercial bakeries was 4.1 in 2022, 4.8 in 2023, and 3.7 in 2024. The combined category for cases involving days away, job restriction, or transfer was 3.0, 3.5, and 2.5 in those respective years. These rates use a different denominator from the counts in Table 2, so a rate and a count answer different questions. Sources: BLS Table 1, 2022; BLS Table 1, 2023; BLS Table 1, 2024

Incidence rate per 100 full-time-equivalent workers202220232024
Total recordable cases4.14.83.7
Cases with days away, job restriction, or transfer: total3.03.52.5
Cases with days away from work1.71.91.4
Cases with days of job transfer or restriction1.31.71.1
Other recordable cases1.01.31.1

Across the reported three-year rate series, each listed rate was higher in 2023 than in 2022 and lower in 2024 than in 2023. This describes the sequence in the published values; it does not establish why the rates changed. The observations are industry-level incidence rates, not measurements of any single bakery, job, or worker. Sources: BLS Table 1, 2022; BLS Table 1, 2023; BLS Table 1, 2024

The case categories distinguish total recordable cases, cases involving days away, job restriction, or transfer, the days-away and job-transfer/restriction components, and other recordable cases. Keeping those labels intact matters when comparing figures: the combined field and its component fields are separate table observations. Rates are not counts, and neither series identifies the circumstances behind recorded cases. Sources: BLS Table 1, 2022; BLS Table 1, 2023; BLS Table 1, 2024

commercial bakery production: Commercial bakery operations and establishment size

The Census’s 2002 labor and compensation measures add detail to the operating picture. U.S. commercial bakeries reported annual payroll of $5,299,905 thousand and total compensation of $6,957,660 thousand. Production-worker wages were $2,497,776 thousand, while production-worker hours totaled 153,692 thousand. The table also recorded $1,657,755 thousand in total fringe benefits. Monetary amounts are reported in thousands of dollars for 2002, and hours are reported in thousands. Source: 2002 Economic Census, Table 3

These measures cover different parts of labor accounting. The annual payroll, total compensation, production-worker wages, production-worker hours, and fringe-benefit entries should retain their source labels rather than be treated as equivalent measures. In particular, the supplied observations do not support deriving an hourly wage or an average compensation figure. Such calculations would require compatible denominators and definitions beyond the reported totals. Source: 2002 Economic Census, Table 3

Read alongside the establishment-size counts, these labor measures describe a broad industry population rather than a representative “typical bakery.” The report gives category totals and ranges, but the observations here do not include a breakdown of payroll, compensation, or hours by establishment size. They therefore document the scale of reported labor activity without explaining how it was distributed among small, medium, and large establishments. Source: 2002 Economic Census, Tables 3–4

commercial bakery production: Commercial bakery economics and shipments

The 2002 Census provides several additional measures related to materials, energy, and receipts. Commercial bakeries reported $5,213,334 thousand for materials, parts, containers, packaging, and similar items used. Purchased fuels were $164,875 thousand, and purchased electricity was $200,663 thousand. These entries provide separate reported costs; the source observations do not assign them to particular products or explain changes in input prices. Source: 2002 Economic Census, Table 3

The table also reports electricity quantities. Bakeries purchased 3,235,351 thousand kWh for heat and power and reported 42,147 thousand kWh of electricity generated less sold for heat and power. The monetary electricity cost and the electricity quantities are distinct measures, each with its own unit. They should not be used to infer an average price or facility-level energy use from these industry totals. Source: 2002 Economic Census, Table 3

Finally, total miscellaneous receipts were $2,466,199 thousand, while contract receipts were $501 thousand. The large difference in scale does not by itself explain what activities made up miscellaneous receipts; the reported figures alone do not provide that composition. Together with shipments, materials, labor, and energy measures, these receipts complete a set of historical indicators for commercial bakery manufacturing in 2002. They remain historical values in the report’s original units and do not describe current industry economics. Source: 2002 Economic Census, Table 3

Sources

Written by

blackboxcake.com Editorial Team

Editorial team

Independent editorial coverage of cake baking & decorating.

More to Explore