MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

August 7, 2023

Manufacturing in Delaware and nationwide is on the move! While we have recently seen a bit of cooling within the sector, manufacturing is a growing part of the Delaware economy and offers good career opportunities and competitive incomes.

In his Monday economic report, Chad Moutray, chief economist for the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), reported that while the sector has seen a drop off in hiring recently, the industry has been on fire for the last two years. There are an estimated 12,985,000 people employed by a manufacturer and this is the highest since 2008.

“Moreover, the average hourly earnings of production and nonsupervisory workers in manufacturing rose 0.3% to $26.46 in July, with 5.3% growth over the past 12 months.” However, Chad added this: “Meanwhile, there were 582,000 manufacturing job openings in June, the lowest level since January 2021 but continuing to exceed the pre-pandemic pace. In the larger economy, nonfarm business job openings eased to 9,582,000 in June and the weakest reading since April 2021. Yet, for every 100 job openings in the U.S. economy, there were just 62.2 unemployed workers."

News You Can Use

This week’s economic news kicks off this afternoon with consumer credit figures from June. State Chamber member and friend Pat Harker, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, speaks tomorrow, as does Richmond Fed President Barkin. Tuesday the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) optimism index for July is released, along with U.S. trade balance and U.S. wholesale inventories results from June. Thursday brings us the consumer price index figures from July, and we get an early look at consumer sentiment trends for August on Friday.

Earnings calls get started today with BioNTech, Cabot, the James River Group, Tyson Foods, and others. The Tuesday calls are headlined by United Parcel Service, Lyft, and joined by ADT, Bumble, Choice Hotels, New York Times, and Under Armor. Walt Disney, Wendy’s, GoodRx, and Manulife Financial are scheduled for Wednesday. Krispy Kreme, Ralph Lauren, U.S. Foods, YETI Holdings, Spectrum Brands are among the many others with calls this week.

Michael J. Quaranta

President

Delaware State Chamber of Commerce

Uniquely Delaware

Monthly Labor Review - June 2023

Delaware's total nonfarm jobs grew by 16,900 or 3.6% over-the-year. The leisure and hospitality industry led the increase in jobs, which grew by 4,600 or 8.4% over-the-year, largely driven by the growth in accommodation and food services sector jobs. The trade, transportation, and utilities and professional and business services sectors also had over-the-year increase of 2,500 and 2,300 jobs, respectively. Two industries saw job declines compared with a year ago, both the other services and information sectors were lower by 300 and 200 jobs, respectively. The local government sector had the largest over-the-month change in jobs, increasing by 1,500. Read more >

Founded in 1891, the YMCA of Delaware is the state’s largest nonprofit—with seven branches statewide—committed to strengthening local citizens through youth development, healthy living, and social responsibility.

Learn more