[sinkspur]

Willie Green is deeply saddened.

[USNBandit]

``Manufacturers were adding to payrolls with the workweek at a lower level than before,'' says Joe Carson, director of global economic research at Alliance Capital Management. ``It makes no sense,'' especially in light of the strength in factory shipments in March, which were up 3.8 percent.

Maybe the manufacturers are gearing up for anticipated growth in demand and don't want to be left flatfooted when the orders start rolling in.

[steveegg]

Goldman, Sachs & Co. economists, steadfast in their view of no Fed tightening until mid-2005, were among the last to throw in the towel.

``Our view of no Fed tightening and lower bond yields in 2004 has become untenable,'' Goldman wrote in a note to clients following today's report. ``We now expect the FOMC to raise its fed funds target by a cumulative 100 basis points to 2 percent by year-end, probably starting with a 25 basis-point hike at the June 29-30 FOMC meeting.''

And the RATs will be screaming about rising interest rates without acknowledging the fact that the reason for it blew their "jobless recovery" argument out of the water.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

While manufacturers are hiring again, primarily in durable goods industries, after 42 consecutive months of job cuts, curiously they cut back on employee hours in April, according to today's employment report. The manufacturing workweek fell 0.3 hours to 40.6 hours. Generally businesses add employees when they can't keep up with the order flow by working the existing staff longer hours.

There comes a point of diminished returns on that policy and likely they have reached it. It is called over time.

When you are fairly sure that orders are going to stay up it makes more sense to hire another seven people then continue to pay 20 ten hours a week of time and a half.

Production also goes up once you get past the training curve. Which you want to do before production picks up dramatically.

[snopercod]

All the factories in my county closed down last year. All four of them.

So when I hear that "factories are hiring", it doesn't mean a helluva lot to me.

And of course, nobody is hiring engineers anywhere that I can see. (Real engineers, not symbol manipulators.)

But Burger King does have a sign out front, so this article is probably right. Aren't hamburgers considered durable goods now?

[EternalVigilance]

...rising to a 16-year high

Bears repeating.

[CWOJackson]

Is pat buchanan under a suicide watch?