Aug 27, 2021 - Economy

Report: Small manufacturers are the most optimistic

Hope King

A worker inspects a Carhatt hat at the Industrial Sewing & Innovation Center manufacturing facility in Detroit. Photo: Emily Elconin/Bloomberg via Getty Images

More small businesses in the manufacturing sector expect to see higher sales next quarter, relative to operators in other industries.

Driving the news: A National Federation of Independent Business quarterly report released Thursday shows that a net positive 9% of small manufacturers said in July that they expected sales growth in the next 3 months.

That compares to a net negative of 1%, 6% and 12% of businesses in the services, retail and construction industries, respectively.

Why it matters: Among the 1,440 business responses, more manufacturers also said they plan to increase hiring.

Of those surveyed, 41% of manufacturing companies said they plan to create new jobs in the next three months — 14 percentage points higher than the overall small business economy.

Of note: Wednesday's durable goods report highlighted a growing backlog of unfilled orders in the manufacturing sector, as we wrote about yesterday.

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Report: Small manufacturers are the most optimistic

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