MFGWatch portends continued gloom for manufacturing industry

The headline from MFG.com's press release this morning is unhappy:

MFGWatch Survey: Manufacturers Continue To Experience High Levels of Supply Chain Risk, Do Not Add Jobs, [or] Maintain Capacity As Expected

Some details:

In October 2009, 62% responded that they expected to maintain the capacity of their plants in the coming quarter -- but only 34% said they had in the most recent survey.

As for employment, 13% of manufacturers stated in October that they anticipated staff reductions, but 38% actually reduced staff.

You can read more of the gloomy press release here.

Comments

[AJ]

Hey, Ralph. Thanks for the pick-up.

We were pretty surprised at the responses, but in most surveys optimism outweighs reality. I don't know if "gloom" is quite the word for this - it certainly isn't "sunny," either. Some industries and regions are reporting meaningful improvements in new orders and other activities.

Bottom line is we think the economy is recovering much slower in manufacturing overall than in other sectors, and it's likely to be a bit of a stretch before we see tangible improvement in employment and capacity.