Justin Fox, Columnist

Manufacturers Are Hiring, and Hiring

Apparently a cheerleader can make a difference for the U.S. economy. The tough trade talk may hurt, though.

March 9, 2018 at 5:56 PM UTC

Justin Fox is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering business, economics and other topics involving charts. A former editorial director of the Harvard Business Review, he is author of “The Myth of the Rational Market.”

Something's working. For now.
Photographer: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

Provide news feedback or report an error

Site feedback:

Take our Survey

The manufacturing mini-renaissance continues. Over the past year, according to today's employment report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the sector has added 222,000 jobs,1520603484370 resuming a recovery that had paused in 2015 and 2016 amid strength in the dollar and weakness in the U.S. oil and gas industry.

As is somewhat apparent from the previous chart and is clear in the next one, the rate of manufacturing job gains has accelerated in the past few months. It's also looking quite strong by the standards of the past three decades.