Boca Raton, FL – NCCI recently released its Quarterly Economics Briefing report for the third quarter of 2026, which discusses developments in the data across key segments of the economy, how those developments have impacted the economic outlook, and what it means for workers compensation.
In this brief, NCCI explores how domestic manufacturing has changed, the implications of higher manufacturing productivity for the economy, and how these trends have impacted workers compensation results.
In the decade between the Great Recession of 2008–2009 and the COVID-19 recession of 2020, American manufacturing followed a simple relationship: employment and real output increased in tandem. It’s a simple relationship that doesn’t require a degree in economics to understand: having more workers to make things allowed domestic manufacturers to make more things.
In the immediate aftermath of the pandemic, this relationship largely continued to hold. That is until the beginning of 2023. Then something interesting happened…
Key Themes included:
- Since 2023, US manufacturing employment has declined, but output has risen as productivity growth has soared
- US manufacturing output in recent years has shifted to relatively high-tech and high-productivity subsectors such as computer and electronic equipment, transportation equipment, and chemical manufacturing
- In the last two decades, increased manufacturing productivity has been strongly correlated with decreased work injury rates
Read the latest brief here: NCCI Q3 2026 Quarterly Economics Briefing
Source: NCCI