Manufacturing grows as employment falls

IRELAND’s manufacturing sector enjoyed its first monthly increase in production for five months, in October; although employment levels continued to fall.

The latest manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) from NCB Stockbrokers, is something of a mixed bag, even though it does show a reading of 50.1 points (anything above the 50 point mark signifying growth), compared to a level of 47.3 points in September and marked the first foray into positive territory since May.

But, while new orders returned to growth, following four months of decline and there were some reports of improving market conditions, from respondents to the latest edition of the survey; the rise in production wasn’t enough to prevent further job losses in the sector.