The US manufacturing sector is stubbornly ignoring the years-old “summer of recovery.”
US factory orders decline 0.7% in January; December's orders revised to show 2% drop instead of previously reported 1.5% fall – @Reuters
— Breaking News (@BreakingNews) March 6, 2014
Hiring isn’t doing any better.
Private sector employers added just 139,000 jobs in February. While that was an increase from 127,000 jobs added in January, it was still disappointing.
The number missed economists’ forecasts and was well below an average of 186,000 jobs added in each of the prior 12 months. Like many of the other weak economic reports lately, economists were quick to blame the disappointing number on snow and ice.
“Bad winter weather, especially in mid-month, weighed on payrolls. Job growth is expected to improve with warmer temperatures,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics, which helps ADP (ADP, Fortune 500) compile the report.
Sure. Blame it on the weather.
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