The southeastern Wisconsin manufacturing is showing some signs of a slowdown from issues hitting the wider economy, according to the latest Marquette-ISM Report on Manufacturing.
The report’s Milwaukee-area PMI came in at 44.55 for March. Any reading below 50 suggests the region’s manufacturing sector is shrinking. The index has been below 50 in all but two months since July. It was 50.24 in January and no report was published in February due to lack of responses.
Respondents for the March report did not paint an optimistic picture for the region’s manufacturing sector. They reported excess inventory due to reduction in demand, stagnant sales forecasts, increasing inflation rates impacting business and causing consumer hardship and continued challenges with procurement.
At the same time, respondents also lamented continued price increases and issues related to inflation.
The outlook for business conditions over the next six months was relatively stable with the outlook diffusion index, which seeks to mitigate positive and negative bias, going from 38.5% in January to 38.9% in March.
The number of people expecting conditions to remain the same increased from 30.8% to 55.6%. The percentage expecting improvements declined from 23% to 11% and those expecting things to get worse went from 46% to 33%.
The report’s index on both blue and white collar employment continued in negative territory in March, but respondents did have optimistic comments for the labor market.
One noted demand for blue collar labor is increasing while another’s company was increasing labor to reduce overtime. Other respondents noted employees frequently changing jobs for better options and difficulty quickly finding replacements for retiring employees.
