Industry comparison

Manufacturing (paper/chemicals) vs Manufacturing (metal/machinery/electronics)

NAICS-sector comparison built from the H1B Report corpus. Filing volume, distinct sponsor count, sponsor concentration and dominant occupations.

Summary

Metal/machinery/electronics manufacturing (NAICS 33) and paper/chemicals manufacturing (NAICS 32) represent distinct segments of the U.S. manufacturing sector with markedly different H-1B sponsorship scales. Metal/machinery/electronics leads significantly with 657,405 total H-1B filings across 12,667 employers, reflecting strong demand for skilled workers in high-tech and precision manufacturing roles. Paper/chemicals manufacturing trails with 119,027 filings across 4,712 employers, representing roughly 18% of the filings and 37% of the employer base of its counterpart sector.

Metal/machinery/electronics maintains a higher filings-per-employer ratio of approximately 52 per company, compared to 25 per company in paper/chemicals, indicating more intensive visa sponsorship activity per firm in the larger sector. Both sectors rely on H-1B labor for specialized technical and engineering roles, but the metal/machinery segment's greater volume reflects broader industry growth and higher concentration of roles requiring international talent.

manufacturing H-1B filings comparison
metal machinery vs chemicals manufacturing
NAICS 33 vs NAICS 32 H-1B
manufacturing sector sponsorship
electronics manufacturing H-1B

Sector A

Manufacturing (paper/chemicals)

NAICS 32Rank #8

Sector B

Manufacturing (metal/machinery/electronics)

NAICS 33Rank #2

Key metrics

Filings / employer is a concentration hint — higher means a few sponsors do most of the filing.

Metric	Manufacturing (paper/chemicals)	Manufacturing (metal/machinery/electronics)
Total filings	119,027	657,405▲
National share %	1.28%	7.04%▲
Distinct sponsors	4,712	12,667▲
Filings / employer	25	52
Rank	#8	#2▲
Top sponsor	Bristol-Myers Squibb Company	Apple Inc.
Top occupation	Software Developers	Software Developers

Filings by fiscal year

Year-over-year H-1B demand within each sector.

Manufacturing (paper/chemicals)

Time series
Period	Value
FY2010	4,986
FY2011	5,266
FY2012	5,421
FY2013	5,098
FY2014	5,815
FY2015	6,136
FY2016	6,406
FY2017	7,243
FY2018	7,664
FY2019	8,270
FY2020	7,489
FY2021	12,502
FY2022	8,500
FY2023	8,497
FY2024	7,756
FY2025	9,221
FY2026	2,757

Manufacturing (metal/machinery/electronics)

Time series
Period	Value
FY2010	24,379
FY2011	28,553
FY2012	29,695
FY2013	29,093
FY2014	32,346
FY2015	32,605
FY2016	33,183
FY2017	35,036
FY2018	37,966
FY2019	38,898
FY2020	37,942
FY2021	69,187
FY2022	52,902
FY2023	54,392
FY2024	46,170
FY2025	54,231
FY2026	20,827