According to the monthly U.S. Manufacturing Technology Order (USMTO) Report, as of May, the year 2012 is up 12.1percent compared with 2011. This indicates “both sound health and continued expansion in durable goods manufacturing,” said Douglas K. Woods, president of AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology and publisher of the report that represents the production and distribution of manufacturing technology.
This positive economic news is backed up by other key economic indicators, including an upward revision in housing starts, said Woods. “While the latest PMI saw a slight dip, overall indications are that manufacturing will continue to lead the way in the general economy,” he added.
Reacting to recent U.S. jobs increase for June of only 80,000, Woods said, “Durable goods manufacturing accounted for 14,000 of the 80,000. That’s nearly a fifth of the total (18 percent), while durable goods manufacturing employment is only one-seventeenth of all jobs (5.6 percent). This shows where the action is!”
If the rest of the economy was growing as fast, that would have been a 238,000 job increase, added Woods. “If the rest of the economy was growing as fast as durable goods manufacturing, we would have a new employment number peak in March 2014. At the current rate, we will not hit a new peak until Sept. 2017. And, durable goods manufacturing jobs average $25.30 an hour versus the average for all jobs in the U.S. of $23.00—nearly a 10 percent difference,” he said.
May U.S. manufacturing technology orders totaled $473.92 million, according to AMT. This total, as reported by companies participating in the USMTO program, was up 14.5 percent from April and up 19.0% when compared with the total of $398.10 million reported for May 2011. The year-to-date total of $2,235.37 million for 2012 is up 12.1 percent compared with 2011.
