Is the sky falling?

What a ride the market has taken us on lately. Today the "Bailout Bill" was rejected in Congress and sent the Dow tumbling 770 points, the largest point drop in history. In my humble opinion we are in for a rough ride the next few years. By we I mean Joe and Jane American. Ironically, I'm not disappointed the bill failed. I think its time for bank and lenders to reap what they have sown. Unfortunately that will hurt the little guy like me and presumbably you. Ultimately, the markets correct themselves. If we fail after a $700B infusion then we will be staring a Depression like era in the face. God Bless America, we need all the help we can get.

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August Unemployment Report

A vicious cycle is developing in the job market. More businesses, seeing orders and sales slow, are turning cautious and laying off workers. That's been the case in manufacturing, and it's now spreading into the service sector. As layoffs increase, incomes shrink and so does consumer spending, inducing firms to continue cutting payrolls. There are exceptions, but not many, with gains in health care, mining and government. As a result, net jobs show a loss so far this year of 605,000, with more to come before conditions reverse in 2009. The unemployment rate, now up to 6.1%, will rise near 6.5% next year. The jump is disturbing, but so far during this downturn, it remains well below the 8% to 10% peaks posted during previous recessions.

Source: Kiplinger

Knoxville Here We Come

I'm proud to announce the addition of Brad Parish to the Southern Manufacturing Search team. Brad brings multiple years of recruiting experience in the engineering space and will cover the Knoxville, TN market as well as the surrounding region. Please stay tuned to http://www.southernmfgsearch.com/ and this blog for more information including job postings and other pertinent information.

July numbers are in.

While industrial production increased only 0.2% in July after having advanced 0.4% in June, manufacturing fared better gaining 0.4%. This figure was boosted by a rise of 3.6% in the production of motor vehicles and parts.

Excluding motor vehicles and parts, the index for manufacturing increased 0.2%.

In July, the capacity utilization rate for total industry edged up to 79.9%, a level 1.1 percentage points below its average for 1972-2007.

Source: IndustryWeek

June Data In

Industrial production in the U.S. rose .5% in June according to the Federal Reserve however the 2nd quarter total fell below the 1st quarter total by a 3.1% annualized return. Manufacturing output gained .2% in June boosted by a 5.4% output increase in motor vehicles and parts. Remember that in June many automakers got back striking union members which attributed to the industry boost in output. Dark days ahead as GM's announcement this week will certainly effect production.

U.S. Manufacturing still continues to underperform the general economy and would be in dire straits were it not for the weak dollar.

Productivity increase? Really?

I read an interesting article in the New York Times today. They were quoting a survey from a company called Basex and to say the least I was surprised.

U.S. companies lose $650B a year in productivity. That's Billion with a B. They term the phenomena "information overload." The average American worker turns to their Outlook or email client over 50 times a day. Instant messaging takes the productivity killer title with a suprising average of 77 times a day used. I find that number hard to believe.

Overall the message is clear. Are the conveniences of 2008 helping or hindering our productivity? Well I just killed 10 minutes on this blog....