• Activity contracted for the first time since May 2020, with the ISM® Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index® dropping to 49.0 in November. New orders contracted for the third straight month, with exports falling for the fourth consecutive month, albeit at a slower pace of decline in November. Employment declined for the fifth time year to date, and production slowed. On the positive side, the data continued to reflect progress on supply chain challenges.
  • Manufacturing employment increased by 14,000 in November. Despite some cooling in the latest data, the labor market remained a bright spot in the economy. Through the first 11 months of 2022, the sector hired 379,000 employees, building on the 365,000 workers added in calendar year 2021 and the most so far of any year since 1994. Currently, the manufacturing sector has 12,934,000 employees, the most since November 2008.
  • The average hourly earnings of production and nonsupervisory workers in manufacturing rose 0.7% from $25.38 in October to $25.57 in November, up 5.5% from one year ago.
  • The October report recorded 746,000 manufacturing job openings. Over the past 12 months, job openings in the sector have averaged more than 841,000, remaining well above pre-pandemic levels. Encouragingly, net hiring has averaged a solid 29,750 over the past 12 months.
  • Wages and salaries increased 0.5% for the month, with manufacturing wages and salaries also rising 0.5% to $1,052.0 billion in October. Over the past 12 months, total wages and salaries have increased 6.7%, with manufacturing wages and salaries rising 7.8% year-over-year.