Dallas area manufacturing survey
- Prior was 31.1
- Production index at 31.0 vs 29.4 prior
- New orders 26.8 vs 26.7 prior
- Prices paid 73.5 vs 80.8 prior
- Wages and benefits 46.0 vs 48.0 prior
- Future index 37.1 vs 37.3 prior
- Full report
Selected comments:
- We need employees.
- The increase in uncertainty is based upon the perceived change in consumer spending patterns more in line with the prepandemic patterns.
- We cannot source materials, and suppliers cannot fulfill orders or cannot fulfill in a timely manner. We are currently producing at about 60 percent capacity.
- Anyone who believes the wage increases are temporary does not understand business. Wages never go down.
- We are expecting supply-line problems to improve in the next three months. If they don't, our optimistic outlook will change.
- Manpower shortages are crippling our production effort. Absenteeism and turnover rates are escalating. Wage pressure is very significant. It is primarily being felt in skilled/semi-skilled labor jobs.
- We are losing sales due to out-of-stocks resulting from supplier product shortages. Until we can keep a consistent, adequate inventory of finished product, it will be hard to maintain, much less grow, sales. Employees are hard to find despite the fact that we have greatly raised wages in the last year.
Overall, the headlines are similar to previously and the comments are the same chorus we've been hearing for months. I wonder what they'll be saying when government extra benefits run off.