The apparel industry provided about 358,000 wage and salary jobs in 2002. Employment is classified into three sub industries; apparel knitting mills, cut and sew apparel manufacturing, and accessories and other apparel manufacturing. Within the cut and sew apparel manufacturing sub industry, cut and sew apparel contractors held approximately 40 percent of all jobs and men’s and women’s cut and sew apparel manufacturing accounted for about 51 percent of employment.

About three-fourths of jobs in the apparel industry are found in nine States: Alabama, California, Georgia, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Texas. The industry had about 14,000 establishments in 2002, with employment concentrated in large firms. In 2002, 2 out of 3 jobs were in establishments with 50 or more workers.