There was good news and bad news in the manufacturing industry this past month. On a positive note, according to the Institute of Supply Management's most recent report, manufacturing orders were up by a higher-than-expected 0.6% in May, showing increased demand for domestic products. Despite this upward trend, the job situation for the industry continues to be challenging, with manufacturing claiming 33,000 job losses in June and 353,000 job losses over the past 12 months. The hardest hit portions of the sector were mostly related to the construction industry as wood products and fabricated metals lost a combined 14,900 jobs. To help offset this, motor vehicles and parts, as well as transportation equipment actually added over 12,000 jobs last month as production of 2009 car models is on the rise.

Key manufacturing sector job growth in thousands (YTD 08)

Source: BLS Data