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The Institute for Supply Management, which surveys American manufacturers, reported that its employment index for December 2011 was 55.1, the highest it has been since June 2011, indicating that more manufacturing companies say they are hiring rather than cutting employment. In addition, the New York Times reported that for the second year a in a row, manufacturing companies will have created jobs in 2011.
This is positive for the manufacturing industry, which prior to 2010 had not seen rising employment in any month since 1997. The U.S. Labor Department said the overall job climate was improving with 11.8 million manufacturing workers in 2011, though still below the 1979 peak of 19.6 million manufacturing workers. Since the U.S. employment low in February 2010, the economy added 2.4 million jobs through November 2011, of which 302,000 were manufacturing.
According to the New York Times, the value of American manufactured exports over a 12-month period rose from its low of $800 billion to $1.074 trillion in 2011, unadjusted for inflation. The United States is especially strong in in exports of machinery, chemicals and transportation equipment, which account for almost half of total U.S. exports.