Here is a picture of manufacturing activity: employment, hours worked, production and new orders:
figure 1: Total manufacturing employment (blue), manufacturing production (black), total manufacturing hours worked (production and nonsupervisory workers) (green), 3-month moving average of real new orders (red), All recorded in logarithmic form 2021M11=0. New orders fell due to the core producer price index (PPI) for manufactured goods. Sources: BLS, Federal Reserve (via FRED), BLS, Census (via FRED).
Growth in employment and hours worked seems rather anemic given the booming economy, but it’s important to remember that the trend declines in both series since 2000 have been 1.2% and 1.4% respectively.
Report says while manufacturing is still shrinking, short-term outlook is improving September Purchasing Managers Index (read=49).
