Factories Gear Up to Hire

 

Caterpillar, the Peoria, Ill.-based heavy-equipment maker, has brought back 600 workers in the past 60 days, including 100 recalled to an engine plant in Indiana last week. - Photo Courtesy of Caterpillar

Manufacturers are seeing more signs that the U.S. economic recovery is on a solid footing, opening the way for new hiring as well as call-backs for factory workers laid off during the depths of the recession. The residual effects will be positive for the landscape industry, as increased manufacturing could lead to more job opportunities.

Federal Reserve said that industrial production, which includes utility and mining output, as well as manufacturing, rose 0.9 percent in January, the seventh straight monthly increase. Factory output rose a solid 1 percent, with improvement across a wide range of industries, including apparel and appliances. Output of motor vehicles and parts was particularly strong, rising 4.9 percent, which economists attributed to pent up demand and government incentives that fueled traffic to dealers.

Factories have been a relative bright spot so far in this recovery, last month adding 11,000 jobs on a seasonally adjusted basis. That’s the first increase since before the downturn began more than two years ago.

Manufacturers remain cautious and some still fear a secondary slump, especially if a broader recovery?EUR??,,????'?????<