EconoIndicators

Empire State Manufacturing Survey At a Glance

• Business Conditions Index: 25.1
• Monthly Change: None
• New Orders Index: 22.2
• Shipments Index: 28.8
• Unfilled Orders Index: 1.1
• Delivery Time Index: 6.5
• Inventories Index: -2.2
• Prices Paid Index: 34.4
• Prices Recieved Index: 3.2
• Number of Employees Index: 11.6
• Average Workweek Index: 16.1

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Empire State Manufacturing Survey

The Empire State Manufacturing Survey indicates that conditions for New York manufacturers continued to improve in August. The general business conditions index held steady at 25.1.

The new orders and shipments indexes remained at similarly high levels, while the unfilled orders index continued to hover near zero. The prices paid index also remained essentially unchanged, while the prices received index fell to its lowest level in two years. Employment indexes were positive and above their July readings. Future indexes conveyed steady optimism, although the future shipments index turned sharply lower. While positive, future price indexes fell, as did the capital spending and technology spending indexes.

In a series of supplementary questions (see Supplemental Report tab), manufacturers were asked to evaluate the degree to which certain business issues posed problems for their firms; the same questions were asked in the August 2006 survey. Of the issues listed, finding qualified workers and the cost of employee benefits were cited most frequently this year as a major problem, followed by workers’ compensation costs and the cost of resources (such as energy and other commodities). The most substantial change from last year’s survey was the sharp increase in the percentage of respondents who viewed the task of finding qualified workers as a major problem. Indeed, asked to identify the single most significant problem they faced, 47 percent of manufacturers—up from 19 percent in last August’s survey—chose finding qualified workers.

Supplemental Report August 2007 PDF

All Data Text

All Data Excel File

Source: New York Federal Reserve