LEX One of the hopes for a sharp recovery next year is that America’s factories start whirring again. From the ridiculously scary month of March when the Institute of Supply Management’s survey included not a single growing industry, things have been steadily improving. In November, three-quarters of respondents said they were expanding. That is down slightly from the previous month. But those reporting an increase in new orders jumped 22 percentage points from only half of all industries in October. Exporters, thanks to a weaker dollar, were also much stronger.
Two significant concerns linger, however. First, it seems as if the upward trend in the number of manufacturers reporting growing employment levels since April is faltering. Flipping the numbers on their head, roughly two thirds of industries are still not hiring. Forget the rise in new orders, if managers really thought business was going to pick up strongly next year, opening the factory gates would be the surest signal.
