IE Business Daily Business news for the Inland Empire.
The Inland Empire’s manufacturing sector expanded for the fifth consecutive month in January.
Last month’s purchasing managers index for the two-county region was 52.5, up from 50.6 in December, according to data released yesterday by Institute of Applied Research and Policy Analysis at Cal State San Bernardino.
Anything above 50 means the local economy and the manufacturing sector are growing, and three consecutive months establishes a trend, so both sectors are moving in the right direction as 2021 gets underway.
However, both are growing “only slightly and at an uneven pace,” the report states.
“Production and new orders, two major factors in the index, jumped back above the 50 percent baseline, which indicates growth. Production increased to 53.8 from 45.2 last month and New Orders increased to 51.9 from 41.9.”
Thirty three percent of the purchasing managers surveyed said they expect the local economy to improve in the coming quarter, up from 14 percent last month. But 33 percent also said they expect the inland economy to get weaker in the next three months, virtually unchanged from last month.
The remaining thirty four percent predicted that the inland economy will be unchanged over the next 3 months, according to the statement.
