There were 676,000 manufacturing job openings in April, down from 702,000 in March and the smallest number since February 2021. It is still above pre-pandemic levels. In the past 12 months, job openings in the sector have averaged 783,000, though that figure is 741,000 in just the past six months. Hiring and separations: Manufacturers hired [...]

Private manufacturing construction rose 4.6% to a record $146.99 billion in March. Private construction in the sector has trended significantly higher since bottoming out at $72.46 billion in February 2021. Over the past 12 months, activity has soared 62.5%. Manufacturing employment rose by 11,000 in April, with 253,000 additional nonfarm payroll workers. There were 12,991,000 manufacturing employees in [...]

Employment growth is starting to level off, though the labor market remains tight. There were 693,000 manufacturing job openings in March, down from 707,000 in February and the lowest level since April 2021, according to the newest JOLTS survey. The bigger picture: Over the past 12 months, job openings in the sector have averaged nearly [...]

It was still contracting in April, but at a slower pace than in March, according to the ISM® Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index®. The numbers: The index rose from 46.3 in March to 47.1 in April. As numbers below 50 indicate contraction, that’s still not great news, but it is an improvement. Meanwhile: New orders (up [...]

The NAM’s take: NAM Chief Economist Chad Moutray weighed in, saying: “While inflation has moderated and will likely continue to ease over the coming months, prices continue to increase solidly, particularly for key items, remaining ‘stickier’ than the Federal Reserve would prefer. As such, it will hike short-term rates at its May 2–3 meeting this [...]

After contracting for five straight months, manufacturing activity rebounded in April, expanding ever so slightly. The S&P Global Flash U.S. Manufacturing PMI rose from 49.2 in March to 50.4 in April, with stronger data for new orders, output and employment. The index for future output signaled optimism for production over the next six months, and [...]

The Federal Trade Commission is proposing to ban noncompete agreements, but doing so would disrupt the operations of most manufacturers, according to the findings of a recent NAM poll. What’s going on: In February, the NAM polled manufacturing leaders to learn their thoughts on the impact of the FTC’s proposed rule, which would prohibit employers [...]

What’s going on: “On average, economists expect inflation, as measured by the annual increase in the consumer-price index, to end this year at 3.53%, up from 3.1% in the January survey. Inflation in March was 5%, the Labor Department reported this past week, the lowest in two years.” Markets expect the Fed to cut interest [...]

After experiencing solid growth over the past couple of years, manufacturing employment rose in January to 12,985,000 workers, the highest level since November 2008. Since then, manufacturing employment edged down by 1,000 workers in both February and March. The March total of 12,983,000 remained just shy of the more than 14-year high, but with hiring [...]

Report from Gardener Business showed the following: New orders activity just barely started growing in March, while backlog contracted at the same rate as February. Export activity contracted more slowly again in March. Primarily to support new orders, production and employment (which tend to move together in times of typical labor supply) expanded at faster [...]