Local manufacturing still growing

Inland Empire manufacturing continued to grow during April, although not at the same pace that it grew in March.

The region’s purchasing managers index last month was 56.8 percent, down from 62.4 in March, according to data released Monday by the Institute of Applied Research and Policy Analysis at Cal State San Bernardino.

The March number was “especially high,” and some decline was probably inevitable, said Barbara Sirotnik, institute director, and Lori Aldana, project coordinator with the institute, said in the statement.

“This decrease is definitely not cause for alarm,” the statement read. “It was an anticipated decrease after an especially high figure last month. The fact that the figure remained above 50 indicates that the Inland Empire manufacturing sector is still in growth mode. The overall economy is growing as well.”

Four of the sectors that make up the purchasing managers index – production, new orders, employment and inventory –  were down in April but were still growing. Supplier deliveries and commodity prices registered increases.

Purchasing Managers continue to be optimistic regarding the next quarter. Fifty two percent of them said they expect the economy to get stronger during the next three months, while only 10 percent said they expect it to get weaker.

The remaining 38 percent said they expect the economy to stay where it is now during the next three months.