The Empire State Manufacturing Survey indicates that conditions for New York manufacturers improved marginally in August. The general business conditions index rose several points, to 2.8.
The new orders and shipments indexes were both just below zero. Both current and future price indexes remained highly elevated, with the future prices received index reaching a new record high. The number of employees index was negative, while future indexes were generally much improved from July’s low levels.
In a series of supplementary questions (see Supplemental Report tab), manufacturers were asked to evaluate the degree to which certain business issues posed problems for their firms; the same questions were asked in the August 2007 and earlier surveys. Of the issues listed, the cost of resources (such as energy and other commodities) was cited most frequently as a major problem, leaping ahead of the labor-related issues topping last year’s list of concerns, such as finding qualified workers, the cost of employee benefits, and workers’ compensation costs. The cost of employee benefits is the second most frequently cited major problem, although it is viewed with somewhat less concern than in last year’s survey. When asked to identify the single most significant problem they faced, 42 percent of manufacturers—up from just 11 percent in last August’s survey—chose the cost of resources.
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