[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.

[Camel Joe]

Exactly, why run an overtime shift when you are meeting the demand by adding employees, not curious at all.