Jobs Returning To The Lehigh Valley, Slowly

Lehigh Valley workers were hit harder by the recession and recovered more slowly from the damage than those in many comparable urban areas.

That finding and a slew of others are included in the fifth annual State of the Lehigh Valley research study that was rolled out Thursday at Lehigh University by the Lehigh Valley Research Consortium and Renew Lehigh Valley.

Researchers Christopher Ruebeck and Jamila Bookwala, who led the presentation, ran down regional employment figures between 2006 and 2012, finding that the Lehigh Valley’s job market held its own prior to the recession, comparing favorably with similar metro areas, with the nation as a whole and with our neighbors in New Jersey.

But the Valley’s unemployment rate rose more than comparable metro areas during the Great Recession, and those jobs have come back more slowly than in many comparable areas or the state or nation as a whole.

Read more:  http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-allentown-lehigh-valley-jobs-20130228,0,7642549.story

Armstrong’s Yearly Profit Climbs

Armstrong World Industries today reported a small drop in net profits for the fourth quarter but a sizable increase for the year.

For the quarter, net profits slid 1.2 percent to $8.4 million (14 cents a share) from $8.5 million (14 cents a share) in the 2011 quarter.

Sales dipped 1.6 percent to $612.8 million.

Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/816802_Armstrong-s-yearly-profit-climbs.html#ixzz2LOK0sAFf

Mexico: The New China

3-D perspective image of the San Diego-Tijuana area from NASA’s Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In November I quit my job as the editor of Wired to run 3D Robotics, the San Diego-based drone company I started with a partner as a side project three years ago.  We make autopilot technology and small aircraft — both planes and multirotor copters — that can fly by themselves.  The drones, which sell for a few hundred bucks, are for civilians: they don’t shoot anything but photographs and videos.  And they’re incredibly fun to build (which we do with the ample help of robots).  It wasn’t a hard decision to give up publishing for this.

But my company, like many manufacturers, is faced with a familiar challenge: its main competitors are Chinese companies that have the dual advantages of cheap labor and top-notch engineering.  So, naturally, when we were raising a round of investment financing last year, venture capitalists demanded a plausible explanation for how our little start-up could beat its Chinese rivals.  The answer was as much a surprise to the investors as it had been to me a few years earlier:  Mexico.  In particular, Tijuana.

Read more:  http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/27/opinion/sunday/the-tijuana-connection-a-template-for-growth.html?_r=0

‘Eds And Meds’ Still Growing In Pittsburgh Region

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Allegheny County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Pittsburgh region’s 21st-century economy has often been referred to as one where manufacturing has been displaced by the “eds and meds” sector, but there remain pockets where local residents still lean heavily on the more traditional means of employment.

In nine Allegheny County municipalities, more than twice as many residents are employed in manufacturing as is the case in the county overall, according to new census data. Many of the communities are in the Route 28/Allegheny Valley corridor, where many light manufacturing firms operate — some of them growing and thriving.

The occupational information was just one nugget in a bounty of new American Community Survey data released Wednesday by the U.S. Census Bureau.  The data are based on a survey of the national population over a five-year span, from 2007-11, with the government deeming the sample size sufficient to release estimates for wide-ranging characteristics of every municipality.

While Allegheny County and the surrounding region once served as a manufacturing center for the nation, only 8.3 percent of the county’s workforce was employed in manufacturing in the modern era, the ACS data said.  That was down from 9 percent in the 2000 census and was less than the 10.8 percent for the nation as a whole.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/region/eds-and-meds-still-growing-in-pittsburgh-region-665151/#ixzz2EJ4ATXbo

U.S. Manufacturing Down In November

Manufacturing in the U.S. unexpectedly contracted in November as orders dropped to a three-month low and exports slowed.

The Institute for Supply Management‘s factory index decreased to 49.5, the lowest since July 2009, from 51.7 a month earlier, the Tempe, Arizona-based group said today.  Economists projected the index would ease to 51.4, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg survey.  A reading of 50 marks the dividing line between expansion and contraction.

Less corporate investment in equipment as U.S. lawmakers debate the nation’s budget, weaker orders from overseas and disturbances related to the biggest Atlantic storm in history are converging to slow manufacturing.  Eleven of the 18 industries covered in the report reported business shrank last month.

“Manufacturing has slowed down,” Joshua Dennerlein, an economist at Bank of America Corp. in New York, said before the report.  ”Manufacturers have to prepare for demand down the road, and they’re not actually sure what it’s going to be.”

Read more:  http://www.mcall.com/business/mc-allentown-manufacturing-october-20121203,0,334772.story

Berks County Takes No Delight In Exide Workers’ Plight

Map of Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States with township and municipal boundaries (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In two years, the Berks County commissioners have positioned themselves squarely against Exide Technologies lead smelting plant in Laureldale.

But a day after Exide announced plans to idle the plant and lay off 150 employees by March 31, the commissioners said Friday that they were not celebrating the news.

“We take no joy in the loss of jobs in Berks County,” Commissioner Mark C. Scott said, “but I don’t think we’re willing to trade public health for jobs.”

In the past two years, the county has appealed two separate permits issued to Exide.  According to the commissioners, the permits fell short of what is needed to comply with national air standards and do not require the company to continue operating a network of air monitors around the plant.

Read more:   http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=426525

Fire Rips Through Morgan Corp. Building

Map of Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States with township and municipal boundaries (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

An intense fire swept through an industrial building in Caernarvon Township late Thursday afternoon, spewing a cloud of heavy black smoke and leaving the facility a tangle of twisted metal.

Fire broke out shortly before 4 in a paint shop at Morgan Corp., which manufactures the box, or container, section of delivery trucks for Penske, Ryder and other corporate trucking fleets.

Brian McCafferty, the company’s risk management director, said the cause had not been determined.

No one was injured, he said.

Read more: http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=412401

PhillyInc: Reports See Slow Recovery For Philadephia Area

English: Philadelphia skyline (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The construction cranes that now dot Philadelphia are a welcome sign that some business is getting done, but the steel structures tend to distract the eye from the local economy’s challenges closer to the ground.

The latest quarterly reading of Select Greater Philadelphia‘s leading economic indicators points to mid-2014 as the earliest point when employment in the 11-county region will return to its prerecession level.

A separate analysis of the Philadelphia market by PNC Financial Services Group Inc. recently concluded that the region will continue to lag behind the nation in economic growth, job growth, and income growth.

What’s going on here? Don’t we have an emerging entrepreneurial tech community, a growing business professional services sector, and an enviable cluster of top-notch higher education and health-care institutions?

Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20120810_PhillyInc__Reports_see_slow_recovery_for_Phila__area.html#ixzz23AG6vpUA
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Sparrows Point Purchased For $72 Million By Plant Liquidator

Steel mill workers were hoping for an operator, but none show at auction

BETHLEHEM STEEL PLANT AT SPARROWS POINT – NARA – 546808 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A liquidation firm won the bidding for Sparrows Point, offering $72 million for the Baltimore County steel mill — less than a tenth of what the complex sold for just four years earlier — and realizing the worst fears of its roughly 2,000 employees.

Mill advocates vowed to push for a miracle to keep steelmaking going there.  The local United Steelworkers union had hoped for a steelmaker would buy and restart the mill — idled after owner RG Steel filed for bankruptcy in May.  But no steelmaking companies showed up to bid at the Tuesday afternoon auction in New York, said Joe Rosel, president of Local 9477 in Locust Point.

The mill’s general manager, Glenn Mikaloff, sent an email to managers late Tuesday that identified Hilco as the winner and the size of its bid.

Read more: http://www.mcall.com/business/bs-bz-sparrows-point-sold-20120808,0,1409767.story

U.S. Steel Earnings Higher Than Estimates

 

U.S. Steel Tower in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

U.S. Steel Corp., the country’s largest producer of the metal, reported second-quarter earnings that beat analysts’ estimates after demand rose for tubular products.

Net income fell to $101 million, or 62 cents a share, from $222 million, or $1.33, a year earlier, Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel said today in a statement. Profit excluding one-time items was 69 cents a share, exceeding the 49-cent average of 19 estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Sales declined to $5.02 billion from $5.12 billion, compared with the $5 billion average estimate.

Demand from U.S. Steel’s customers in the oil and natural- gas drilling helped offset lower prices for hot-rolled steel coil, a benchmark product used in cars, trucks and appliances.

Read more: http://www.mcall.com/business/mc-us-steel-earnings-20120731,0,264490.story

Profits Up 10.3% At Armstrong In Second Quarter

Armstrong World Industries today reported a 10.3 percent increase in second-quarter net profits, despite lower sales.

Net profits were $41.8 million (70 cents a share), up from $37.9 million (64 cents a share) in the second quarter of 2011.

Sales, however, fell 5.2 percent to $709.9 million from $748.6 million in the comparable year-ago period.

Although sales slid, Armstrong said it boosted profits by cutting manufacturing costs and reducing its selling, general and administrative expenses.

Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/699292_Profits-up-10-3–at-Armstrong-in-second-quarter.html#ixzz227UDFhit

Mack Reports Another Strong Month

 

MACK TRUCKS (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Mack Trucks is continuing to see high demand for its rigs.

The truckmaker produced 2,687 rigs in May, up almost 60 percent over the same month a year ago, the company reported Monday.

Mack, a division of Sweden’s Volvo AB, is headquartered in Greensboro, N.C., and produces all rigs at its Lower Macungie Township plant, which employs roughly 1,700 workers.

The company has produced 12,191 rigs through May, up 56 percent compared with the same span in 2011.

Easton-Based Crayola Launches New Exhibits

The sixteen Crayola "Metallic FX" special effect crayons (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Crayola Experience celebrated the opening of an 18,000 square-foot expansion with build-your-own space suits, a glow-in-the-dark doodle room, and a special green, odoriferous crayon called Alien Armpit.

Though their crayons might have been spiked with galactic body odor, dozens of kids rushed the new tables and activity areas in the Activity Studio, one of several new exhibits in the space Crayola moved into earlier this year as the National Canal Museum moved out.

Children grabbed glue sticks, tissue paper, a rainbow of crayons, fat markers, stencils, colored sand and brown paper bags – everything you need to make a spacesuit.

Read more: http://www.mcall.com/news/local/easton/mc-crayola-experience-grand-opening-20120405,0,4160945.story

Lancaster-Based Armstrong World Industries Reports 10-Fold Profit Increase

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Armstrong World Industries today reported a profitable fourth quarter and a ten-fold increase in profits for the full year.

Helping the results were sharply lower restructuring charges, the absence of asset-impairment charges and lower selling, general and administrative expenses.

Lancaster-based Armstrong also announced it will build its first manufacturing plant in Russia, continuing its expansion into what it calls “emerging markets.”

The $100 million mineral-fiber ceiling plant is expected to begin operations in 2015, said Armstrong, although the company did not name the city where the plant will be located.

Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/594659_Armstrong-reports-profitable-fourth-quarter–sees-10-fold-increase-in-profits-over-last-full-year.html#ixzz1nbRWCT1O

Carpenter Buys Former Dana Site

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Carpenter Technology Corp. announced Friday that it has purchased the former Dana Corp. industrial site for about $6 million.

The Spring Township-specialty steel and alloy maker bought the 50-acre industrial property where General Motors vehicle frames were once produced from Reading Industrial Investments Corp., Ambler, Montgomery County.

What Carpenter got in the deal is about 40 acres of land and an additional area where four buildings are located, at West Robeson and Weiser streets, adjacent to Carpenter’s East Shore property.

Read more: http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=367183

Kraft Foods Announces 1,600 Job Cuts

Kraft Foods plans to cut 1,600 positions from its North American division this year as it prepares to split into two companies, but no Lehigh Valley jobs will be lost, the packaged foods giant announced Tuesday.

Kraft said the cuts will not hit production facilities. The company has a 1-million-square-foot plant in Upper Macungie where it makes Grey Poupon mustard, A-1 Steak Sauce, T-Discs for the Tassimo hot beverage maker, natural cheese products.

The Northfield, Illinois company also has a distribution center in Bethlehem Township.

The company said no Lehigh Valley jobs are targeted in this round of cost-cutting. However, all facilities will be reviewed once the split is complete, it said.

Read more: http://www.mcall.com/business/mc-allentown-kraft-cuts-20120117,0,1257961.story

Dana Reports Increased Earnings For Third Quarter

Some good financial news for our area today as Dana announced their 3rd quarter results.  Dana Holding Corp. reported a year-to-date income of $148 million for 2011.  In 2010 that figure was only $24 million.  Sales were up almost 30 percent over the 3rd quarter of 2010 and up $1.1 billion year-to-date over last year.

Dana operates a driveshaft plant in Pottstown which contributes greatly to the local economy.

Manufacturing Activity In Metropolitan Philadelphia Rebounding

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Manufacturing grew in the Philadelphia region in October after contracting for two straight months, a sign factories are recovering after a sluggish summer.

An index of regional manufacturing activity jumped to 8.7 from -17.5 in September, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said Thursday. It marked the best reading in six months. A positive reading suggests growth…

Read the rest of the article here: http://www.thereporteronline.com/articles/2011/10/20/business/doc4ea07ba7e65ca412945682.txt

ZERO Job Growth Reported For August

For the first time since 1945 our country reported a net job growth of ZERO, for August! 2011  Unemployment remained at 9.1 percent.  Companies are not laying off or hiring.  We are in a holding pattern.  Hourly wages fell in August.

Consumer and business confidence has been shaken by the federal debt limit feud, the downgrading of our long-term debt and the financial crisis in Europe.  The result is a stock market drop.

Unless job growth is improved immediately, another recession is likely.

To read the entire article about our economic mess, click here,

http://www.centredaily.com/2011/09/02/2899388/hiring-standstill-points-to-growing.html#storylink=rss?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Mack Trucks Production/Sales On Record Pace

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…Mack produced 1,076 rigs in July, up 41 percent compared with the same time a year ago. The Volvo AB subsidiary has made 10,674 trucks from January through July. Mack’s latest figures put the company’s production up 61 percent compared with the same span a year earlier, a pace that could make 2011 one of its best years since the Great Recession sapped truck demand…

To read the rest of the article from the Morning Call, click here: http://www.mcall.com/business/mc-allentown-mack-trucks-sales-20110831,0,6080029.story

MORE MACK NEWS

Mack gets $19 million to develop ‘SuperTruck’

Federal government taps truckmaker to help with research and development project.

To read about it!  All Mack Trucks are produced in Lower MacungieTownship so this means jobs for the Lehigh Valley!

http://www.mcall.com/business/mc-allentown-mack-trucks-supertruck-d20110816,0,7574790.story?obref=obinsite