Manufacturing industry see boost for fourth month in a row

A new report shows new orders in the manufacturing sector increased for the fourth consecutive month in October.

The figures comes from Investec’s monthly Purchasing Managers’ Index, released this morning, which shows the sector gathered momentum last month.

The rate of expansion picked up at the fastest pace in 15 months while employment and purchasing activity increased at steeper rates during October.

The Chief Economist with Investec Ireland, Philip O’Sullivan, said increased volumes of work also encouraged Irish manufacturers to take on extra staff during October.

"This report is solely on manufacturing … but certainly the improvement in the Irish economic outlook appears to be quite broad-based at this time," he said.