U.S. manufacturing expanded for a third
month in September, driven by the strongest order growth this
year, an industry report showed.
The Institute for Supply Management’s factory index was 53.7,
down from 54.7 in August because of a continued decline in the
report’s employment measure. Readings above 50 mean more companies
reported growth than contraction.
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Manufacturers have relied on productivity gains to meet
rising demand for goods and services instead of hiring more
workers, economists said. The decline follows a report yesterday
that showed Chicago-area manufacturing in September expanded at
the slowest pace in five months.
“It’s consistent with a steady but not spectacular
recovery,” said Richard Syron, chairman of Thermo Electron Corp.,
the biggest maker of measurement instruments used in medical
laboratories, and a former president of the Boston Federal Reserve
Bank. “I think things are getting better.”
The employment index fell to 45.7 from 45.9. The index has
been below 50 for three years. Ford Motor Co., the world’s second
largest automaker, this week said it will cut as many as 8,250
jobs in North America and Europe. The production index, a gauge of
work being performed, dropped to 57.3 from 61.6, signaling a
slower rate of growth.
“The ISM index suggests US manufacturing is still expanding,
but demand for U.S. manufactured goods is still insufficient to
promote hiring,” said Christopher Low, chief economist at FTN
Financial in New York. “The Ford story is just one reminder of
that.”
Bloomberg News
