NAM survey shows manufacturing stabilizing in Q4

The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) has released the results of the “Manufacturers’ Outlook Survey” for Q4 2019. The survey shows that manufacturing optimism has stabilized, with nearly 68% of manufacturers reporting a positive outlook for their business, essentially the same rate as the Q3 release. The inability to attract and retain a quality workforce remained manufacturers’ top business concern (63.8%) for the ninth straight quarter.

The survey was conducted before announced agreements on the U.S.–Mexico–Canada Agreement, “phase one” trade deal with China, and long-term reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank—all of which could boost certainty for manufacturers entering 2020.

To date in 2019 manufacturing has had an average of 483,500 open jobs—a highly elevated level that included the all-time-high number in June (515,000). Manufacturing had 477,000 open jobs in October, according to the most recent JOLTS data, and a report published in 2018 by Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute found that 2.4 million manufacturing jobs could go unfilled by 2028.