February 8, 2009

Conference Board Employment Trends Index Falls In January

Economic Trends, Free, News, Research & Analytics, Subscriber Only / MDM Staff

The Conference Board Employment Trends Index fell further in January. The index stands at 96.6, down 1% from the December revised figure of 97.5, and down 18.6% from a year ago.

The Employment Trends Index has recently been declining faster than at any time since the 1974 recession, said Gad Levanon, senior economist at The Conference Board. “Such declines suggest considerable job losses will persist for several more months. It is becoming clearer that the continued worsening economic conditions are forcing many companies to make further downward adjustments to their workforce.”

The 18-month-long decline in the Employment Trends Index is seen in all eight of its components, most notably over the past six months in …

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Grainger Adds 64,000 Products To 2009 Catalog

Companies, Free, News, Subscriber Only / MDM Staff

Grainger, Chicago, IL-based distributor of facilities maintenance supplies, has released its 2009 catalog including nearly 240,000 maintenance, repair and operating products, 64,000 more than 2008.

The distributor added more than 8,000 items Electrical products; 15,000 Metalworking products, nearly doubling existing offerings, and 41,000 additional items across all other product categories, including HVAC, Fleet Maintenance and Material Handling.

Beyond the product expansion to the catalog, the company recently added 27,000 safety, material handling and other products to the company’s Web site, bringing the total products available online to more than 300,000.

Newly named Grainger spokesman Mike Rowe, creator, executive producer and host of …

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Machine Tool Consumption Down 2.4% In 2008

Economic Trends, Free, News, Research & Analytics, Subscriber Only, Top Distributor Sectors / MDM Staff

December U.S. manufacturing technology consumption totaled $194.01 million, according to AMT – the Association for Manufacturing Technology and AMTDA, the American Machine Tool Distributors’ Association. This total, as reported by companies participating in the USMTC program, was down 2.2% from November, and down 53.8% from the total of $419.80 million reported for December 2007. With a year-to-date total of $4,211.79 million, 2008 is down 2.4% compared with 2007.

These numbers and all data in this report are based on the totals of actual data reported by companies participating in the USMTC program.

The 2008 Stimulus Package and the International Manufacturing Technology Show in September were expected to pull orders out of 2009 and place …

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