Manufacturing’s Economic Barometer: July 2022

• Ohio manufacturing’s economic output has again surpassed its previous record high set in late 2021. According to federal data, the Buckeye State’s seasonally adjusted annual manufacturing GDP yielded nearly $128 billion in Q1 2022 — up from $112.4 billion in Q4 2019, before the start of the pandemic.
• Ohio is still down about 20,000 manufacturing jobs compared to this time in 2019, due in large part to the labor shortage. (At last check, there were more than 53,000 manufacturing-related jobs posted at Ohio Means Jobs.)
• Nationwide, the Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing index for June dropped to its lowest level in two years, but it remained in expansion territory. (Read this insight from OMA Connections Partner Plante Moran.)
• According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics and its latest report, the number of U.S. job openings in May fell for both durable goods manufacturing (-138,000) and non-durable goods manufacturing (-70,000).
• New orders for U.S. manufactured goods in May increased $8.4 billion (1.6%) to $543.4 billion, according to the the U.S. Census Bureau’s latest report.

In other developments, Creighton University economics professor Ernie Goss, who specializes in Midwest manufacturing, says the slowing U.S. economy could be tied to the steep decline in productivity in recent months. In Q1 2022, U.S. worker productivity fell 11.7% (annualized). 7/8/2022