Though manufacturing lost 29,000 jobs in September for the 38th consecutive month, “the employment situation is stabilizing,” said Jerry Jasinowski, president of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) Washington, D.C.
The Labor Department reported the September unemployment rate held steady at 6.1 percent as overall non-farm payroll employment increased by 57,000. “Though this is a modest increase, it’s the first rise in payroll employment in eight months and a positive sign that the employment situation is beginning to improve,” Jasinowski said.
“The 29,000 drop in manufacturing employment last month brought the overall total of lost manufacturing jobs to more than 2.8 million since July 2000,” Jasinowski said. “But in the key durable goods sector, where 70 percent of those 2.8 million jobs have been lost, the 17,000 decline in payroll jobs last month was the smallest drop since November 2000.
“We are beginning to see increases in manufactured orders and consumer spending, so I expect that manufacturing employment will begin to increase in the next couple of months and accelerate in 2004,” Jasinowski said. “But few of the 2.8 million lost manufacturing jobs will return until we get serious about reining in the escalating production costs associated with health care, runaway litigation and excessive regulation.”