The US manufacturing sector showed improvement in September, according to the Institute for Supply Management. Its Manufacturing PMI (purchasing managers composite index) posted a reading of 49.0% in September. While that still indicates a contraction in the US manufacturing sector, it’s the measure’s highest level since November 2022.

“The US manufacturing sector continued its contraction trend but at a slower rate, recording its best performance since November 2022, when the PMI also registered 49%,” Timothy Fiore, chair of the ISM’s Manufacturing Business Survey Committee, said in a press release. “Companies are still managing outputs appropriately 
as order softness continues, but the month-over-month PMI improvement in September is a clear positive.”

The measure must reach a level of 50% or higher to indicate growth.
“This is the 11th month of contraction, but the third month of positive change,” Fiore said.

Meanwhile, the employment portion of the composite index rose to a reading of 51.2% in September from 48.5% in August, indicating expansion in employment.

The stronger results also mirror our own QPS 4th quarter forecasting survey. 
When asked, “What are your forecasted hiring expectations for the 4th quarter 
of 2023?”, 55% of companies stated that they would at least maintain their same levels of staffing, 36% planned to Increase staff, while only 9% expect to see staff reductions. 

We survey our customers quarterly, so be on the lookout during the last month of every quarter for those questions, where we welcome your participation. The final survey results are shared before the start of the next quarter.

Source: Staffing Industry Analysts & QPS