Future business conditions index for North America rallies in December
NEMA’s Electroindustry Business Confidence Index (EBCI) for current North American conditions dropped for the third straight month in December, while EBCI for future North American conditions showed a substantial gain of more than 16 points, raising the index to a six-month high. Congressional Budget Office talked about manufacturing jobs at the end of December.
Rosslyn, VA– NEMA’s Electroindustry Business Confidence Index (EBCI) for current North American conditions dropped for the third straight month in December, down almost 10 points from the previous month. The index dropped to its lowest level (8 points) since October 2001; even so, EBCI for future NorthAmerican conditions has moved in a positive direction over the last two months, NEMA says. December showed a substantial gain of more than 16 points, raising the index to a six-month high of 36 points, up from 19.6 points for November and 17.5 points for October.
Electroindustry业务Confidence Index gauges business confidence of the electroindustry in Asia, Europe, North America, and Latin America, based on results from a monthly survey of senior managers at NEMA member companies, which represent more than 80% of the electroindustry. The complete NEMA EBCI December 2008 report is available on the NEMA Website (PDF).
| Region | Current conditions (compared to prior month) |
Conditions months from now |
| North America | 8.0 | 36.0 |
| Latin America | 26.3 | 28.9 |
| Europe | 20.6 | 33.3 |
| Asia/Pacific | 15.8 | 34.2 |
In other news, one of a series of summaries from the Congressional Budget Office, Factors Underlying the Decline in Manufacturing Employment Since 2000, dated December 23, 2008 , reports: “By the end of 2007, with the slowing of economic growth, employment in the [manufacturing] sector had edged down… by half a million jobs. And, as of November 2008, employment in manufacturing had fallen yet again, by slightly more than 600,000 jobs. A significant number of additional losses is likely given the current weakness in the economy.”
Also see the
Pillar to Post blog: Is nothing growing in manufacturing?
–Control EngineeringNews Desk
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