A worsening housing collapse continues to depress related industries, making for turbulent times in the U.S. manufacturing sector in 2008. Any gloom this year, however, should give way to a rebound in 2009, according to the Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI Quarterly Industrial Outlook, a report that analyzes 27 major industries.
Housing starts were down 26% in the fourth quarter of 2007. They are expected to plummet another 33% in 2008, bottoming out in the second quarter as the U.S. remains in the midst of the most severe housing downturn anyone could have imagined,” according to Daniel J. Meckstroth, Chief Economist for the Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI, and author of the analysis.
Conversely, the longer term outlook looks much brighter, with a 32% increase …
