The U.S. manufacturing industry slid further off course in the second quarter, and a rebound may be a year or more away, according to a newly released study.
The Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI Quarterly Industrial Outlook, released today, shows that across 27 manufacturing sectors studied, industrial production declined at a 3.9% annualized rate in the second quarter of 2008, a much sharper decrease than the 1% drop-off MAPI reported for the first quarter.
MAPI, a non-profit manufacturing research organization, includes housing starts and construction in its manufacturing index, sectors whose enduring woes contributed strongly to the negative second-quarter numbers. Another significant drag was the automotive sector, which logged a 13% drop in production in Q2. Makers of household appliances, affected by the sagging housing market, found production down by 10% in the second quarter.
The saving grace was a cadre of well-performing subsectors in the high-tech industry, including computers, communications equipment, and semiconductors. Stripped of the high-tech standouts, manufacturing production fell at a 5.2% annualized rate, according to Dan Meckstroth, lead economist at MAPI and author of the quarterly report.