Manufacturing | AEIdeas

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

American manufacturing is making a huge comeback – Motorola will assemble the first smartphone ever in the US

Mark J. Perry | May 30, 2013, 3:20 pm

From ABC News: Motorola’s next flagship phone won’t only have sensors that will know when you are going to take a photo or when it is in your pocket, but it will be the first smartphone assembled in the … read more >

Carpe Diem

Chicago Fed: Midwest manufacturing is booming with 6.4% annual growth; automotive output is growing by 12.9%

Mark J. Perry | April 29, 2013, 11:41 am

The Chicago Federal Reserve released new data today on Midwest manufacturing activity and reported that its Midwest Manufacturing Index increased 0.3% in March from February following a 1.1% monthly gain in February, and reached the highest level in almost five years. On an annual basis, … read more >

Carpe Diem

Durable manufacturing, motor vehicle production reach record highs in Q1, and oil output is highest in 20 years

Mark J. Perry | April 16, 2013, 8:52 pm

The Federal Reserve released data today on US industrial production for March, here are some highlights: 1. The output from America’s factories, mines, and utilities increased in March by 3.5% compared to a year ago, and by 5.6% at an … read more >

Carpe Diem

Economic fact of the day: Q1 real GDP growth could be 3.3%

Mark J. Perry | April 1, 2013, 8:06 pm

From today’s “March 2013 Manufacturing ISM Report On Business“ “The past relationship between the PMI and the overall economy indicates that the average PMI for January through March (52.9 percent) corresponds to a 3.3 percent increase in real gross domestic … read more >

Image Credit: AKZO photo (Flickr) (CC BY 2.0)

Carpe Diem

Energy, construction, manufacturing, temps lead job growth

Mark J. Perry | March 8, 2013, 10:42 am

From today’s Employment Report from the BLS: 1. Employment in temporary help services grew by 16,100 jobs in February, bringing the total number of temporary and contract workers to 2.58 million last month, the highest level since August 2007 (see blue line in chart above). … read more >

Pethokoukis

Why an American ‘manufacturing renaissance’ wouldn’t create many manufacturing jobs

James Pethokoukis | February 1, 2013, 3:59 pm

Get ready to hear a lot more about technological unemployment. The theory holds that automation, especially of the digital variety, is happening more quickly than entrepreneurs and human capital can adjust. And it’s why, says Andrew McAfee, co-author of Race Against … read more >

Carpe Diem

From today’s employment report: Manufacturing, housing and energy sectors all show job gains in December

Mark J. Perry | January 4, 2013, 9:57 am

From today’s Employment Situation report from the BLS: 1. Manufacturing employment increased by 34,000 jobs in December, bringing the total increase in factory payrolls for the year to 180,000. The 180,000 gain in factory jobs last year follows previous annual … read more >

Carpe Diem

Appliance shopping: 1959 vs. 2012

Mark J. Perry | December 21, 2012, 9:50 pm

Here’s another post comparing the “time cost” of consumer products from the 1950s to the “time cost” of comparable goods today, as a follow up to the recent, popular CD post “Christmas Shopping: 1958 vs. 2012” (which was tweeted by … read more >

Carpe Diem

Christmas holiday shopping 1962 vs. 2012: the ‘golden era’ of prosperity for middle- and low-income Americans is today

Mark J. Perry | December 16, 2012, 10:23 pm

If you’ll be doing any Christmas shopping in the next few weeks, it might boost your holiday spirits if you consider that there’s never been a better time in history to be a consumer. Taking into account all of the … read more >

Carpe Diem

The ‘decline of manufacturing’ is an inevitable, global phenomenon, and that’s something to celebrate

Mark J. Perry | December 16, 2012, 10:46 am

The chart above shows manufacturing output as a share of GDP, for both the “world less the USA” and the USA alone, using new United Nations data for GDP and its components at current prices in U.S. dollars from 1970 … read more >