companies in the January Business Conditions Report,” said William E. Gaskin, PMA president. The report samples 131 U.S. and Canadian metalforming companies.
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Metalformers Expect Business Spike Metalforming companies expect a spike in business conditions in the coming three months, according to the January 2013 Precision Metalforming Association (PMA) Business Conditions Report. According to data in the January report, 32% of metalformers expect economic activity to improve in the coming three months. That’s a significant improvement from the December 2012 report, when only 22% said the same thing. The January report also shoed that: * 50% of metalformers expect activity will be unchanged in the coming three months, from 49% who said so in the December report * 18% expect activity will decline in the next three months, for an improvement from 29% who said so in December Metalformers also generally see incoming orders to strengthen in the next three months: * 44% of metalformers expect more orders, from 33% who said so in December 2012 * 31% expect no change, from 39% in December * 25% expect fewer orders, from 28% in December “The January uptick in the ISM manufacturing index into the “growth” range, continued expectations of modest growth in the automotive sector for 2013, along with a strengthening housing/construction market support the modest optimism expressed by PMA member A2Z METALWORKER
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Manufacturing Jobs -WhatYou Need (andWant) to Know According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of Jobs in Manufacturing increased by 180,000 in 2012. “In December, manufacturing employment rose by 25,000, with small gains in a number of component industries. In 2012, factory employment increased by 180,000; most of the growth occurred during the first quarter.” “In December, the average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls edged up by 0.1 hour to 34.5 hours. The manufacturing workweek edged up by 0.1 hour to 40.7 hours, and factory overtime was unchanged at 3.3 hours.” While there are signs that manufacturing employment gains have slowed down in the second half, those were connected to the economic uncertainties tied to the presidential election, fiscal cliff and global economic slowdown. Two of these three special causes are now behind us. As the graph above shows, manufacturing is the place to look for employment gains. The softness in manufacturing employment in the last half of 2012 belies the demand that our industry will have for talented workers going forward. As the BLS workweek hours indicate, manufacturing currently is using overtime to meet its needs. Given demographic trends, current lean staffing, and the push to reshore production, any economic upturn at all will be strongly bullish for employment prospects in Manufacturing in 2013. Improvements in housing markets are already visible and a 15+ million auto sales forecast are two indicators that suggest if you want to find a well paying job in 2013, precision machining (advanced manufacturing) is a great place to apply.
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