It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘n’ Roll)

By Randy Burgess

Manufacturing industry statistics, these days, are just like AC • DC songs.  We don’t mean to suggest that they were created by middle-aged men in school uniform short-pants, although, I can’t say with certainty that they were not—after all, members of the Congressional Task Force on Manufacturing have a right to dress as they please, and who are we not to salute them when they do.  The similarity to the music is in the interchangeability of the song titles and the monthly report banners.  For example, you could change the report dates from May to June, or July to August and the numbers would be about the same… just like you could swap “Livewire” for “Thunderstruck” and “For Those About to Rock” with “Hell’s Bells,” and, for the most part, you get the same pedal to the metal tune.  The manufacturing report numbers are good…very good.

Here are some examples from the August edition of the Economic Review of the Congressional Task Force on Manufacturing:

Manufacturing output up .5%
Manufacturing employment up 22,000 jobs

Manufacturing capacity utilization up 3.8%

Manufacturer’s new orders up $4.8 Billion

Even one of the down numbers is very good and the others are fixable:

Purchasing Manager’s Index (PMI) 59.0

Manufacturers’ unfilled orders increased 1.2%

Manufacturers’ inventories increased .8%

The good down number is, of course, the PMI.  A rating of 50 indicates that the manufacturing sector is growing, and below 50 means it is contracting.  The August number marked the 15^th consecutive month that the PMI was over 50.