Tag Archives: manufacturing

Global Manufacturing PMI: “Moderate, Stable Growth”

Posted on April 2, 2013 by

JP Morgan and Markit reported today the global maufacturing PMI rose to 51.2 in March, up slightly from 50.9 in February. The US led the global manufacturing output growth league table in March, and has now seen production rise throughout … Continue reading →

Posted in PMIs | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Perspectives on the U.S. Labor Market

Posted on December 26, 2012 by

It’s year end and time for some perspective on the economy. Let’s start with the U.S. labor market. The employment to population ratio remains stuck at around 58.7 percent,  levels not seen since the mid-1980′s.  This  is due to both … Continue reading →

Posted in Employment | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Manufacturing Compensation Costs

Posted on December 25, 2012 by

Nice charts from the BLS.   Even though the big countries — China and India — it does give a a sense of the relative competitiveness of nations. Chart 1 – Average hourly compensation costs in U.S. manufacturing, at $35.53 in … Continue reading →

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Foxconn to Teach American Engineers About Manufacturing

Posted on November 8, 2012 by

Interesting story from AP on Foxconn, the Taiwan based companies who manufactures many of the Apple products.  Two points jump out at us:  1) automated equipment;  and 2) lack of skilled workers in the United States. TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — … Continue reading →

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Job Creation During the Obama Administration

Posted on November 4, 2012 by

We’ve analyzed total job creation during the Obama administration and present the results here in a format similar to the monthly payrolls report.    We’ve also broken down the government sector into federal, state, and local, further breaking out the … Continue reading →

Posted in Employment | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

China manufacturing model under threat – Reuters

Posted on October 17, 2012 by

Put this on the your inflation and profit margin watch.  And start monitoring prices at Costco and WalMart, which we see already ticking higher.  Also see our past posts. Companies like Foxconn, which assembles most of the world’s iPads and … Continue reading →

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Nonlinear Thinking: A New Kind of Industrial Robot

Posted on September 23, 2012 by

A smarter, safer new industrial robot [Rethink Robotics] could bring automation to new areas of manual work and help many U.S. manufacturers regain a competitive edge. – Technology Review (click here if video is not observable)

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Manufacturing Productivity

Posted on July 5, 2012 by

Interesting chart from the BLS showing multifactor productivity in the manufacturing industries.  Labor input saw huge gains in productivity in the past few years and some believe the sluggish recovery in employment is due to productivity increases. It’s going to … Continue reading →

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China Flash PMI Deteriorates to 48.7, At Two-Month Low

Posted on May 23, 2012 by

Markit reports, Commenting on the Flash China Manufacturing PMI survey, Hongbin Qu, Chief Economist, China & Co-Head of Asian Economic Research at HSBC said: “Manufacturing activities softened again in May, reflecting the deteriorating export situation. This calls for more aggressive … Continue reading →

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HSBC Flash China PMI Still Contracting

Posted on April 22, 2012 by

Markit reports, Commenting on the Flash China Manufacturing PMI survey, Hongbin Qu, Chief Economist, China & Co-Head of Asian Economic Research at HSBC said: “As April flash PMI ticked higher, this suggests that the earlier easing measures have started to … Continue reading →

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