The textile industry in the US employed 541,300 workers in 2007, decreasing by 52, 800 (a drop of 8.9%) from the previous year (annual average). This number far outstripped the annual average number for the manufacturing industry, which decreased by 1.9%.

The workforce for the manufacturing of spun and woven products including carpets dropped by 8,300(5%) to 158,400, for spinning and weaving (spinning, weaving and dyeing) by 25,100 (12.9%) to 169,900 and for garments by 19,400 (8.3%) to 213,000.

Employment in the textile industry in the US has been in a long-term contraction, and it dropped to 1,500,000 in 1996 and 1,000,000 in 2001, and has since been continuously decreasing.