Average weekly earnings of nonsupervisory textile production workers were $477 in 2002, compared with $619 for production workers in all manufacturing and $506 for workers throughout private industry. Wages within the textile industry depend upon skill level and type of mill. Workers in textile goods manufacturing generally make more than those working in yarn and fabric mills. In addition to typical benefits, employees often are eligible for discounts in factory merchandise stores. Earnings in the largest occupations in textile mills and products industry appear in table 2.
Table 2. Median hourly earnings of the largest occupations in textile mill and products, 2002
| Occupation |
Textile mills |
Textile product mills |
All industries |
| First-line supervisors/managers of production and operating workers |
$18.89 |
$16.79 |
$20.64 |
| Industrial machinery mechanics |
13.95 |
14.03 |
18.26 |
| Maintenance and repair workers, general |
13.71 |
13.65 |
14.12 |
| Extruding and forming machine setters, operators, and tenders, synthetic and glass fibers |
12.26 |
11.90 |
13.22 |
| Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers |
10.52 |
9.98 |
13.01 |
| Team assemblers |
10.35 |
10.40 |
10.90 |
| Textile winding, twisting, and drawing out machine setters, operators, and tenders |
10.34 |
10.75 |
10.54 |
| Textile bleaching and dyeing machine operators and tenders |
10.33 |
10.44 |
10.00 |
| Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand |
10.00 |
9.04 |
9.48 |
| Sewing machine operators |
9.09 |
8.61 |
8.39 |
Only 6.3 percent of textile workers were union members or were covered by a union contract in 2002, compared with 15 percent for the economy as a whole. The most prominent union in the industry is the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE), which was formed in 1995 by the merger of the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union and the International Ladies' Garment Workers Union.
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