Week 5 in Manufacturing News

The Economy Is Improving Faster Than Expected, the U.S. Budget Office Says; U.S. Private Payrolls Rebound; Services Industry Activity Gains Steam; Analysis: Economic Update on the UK Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturers and the 5G Evolution.

The Economy Is Improving Faster Than Expected, the U.S. Budget Office Says

Large sectors of the economy are adapting to the pandemic better than originally expected, and December’s economic aid package helped to increase growth, adding another twist to stimulus talks.

The American economy will return to its pre-pandemic size by the middle of this year, even if Congress does not approve any more federal aid for the recovery, but it will be years before everyone thrown off the job by the pandemic is able to return to work, the Congressional Budget Office projected on Monday.

Source: The New York Times

U.S. Private Payrolls Rebound; Services Industry Activity Gains Steam

U.S. private payrolls rebounded more than expected in January, suggesting the labor market recovery was back on track after the economy shed jobs in December as soaring COVID-19 infections hurt operations in the leisure and hospitality industry.

There was also encouraging news on the embattled services sector, with other data on Wednesday showing activity racing to its highest level in nearly two years in January amid an acceleration in new orders and employment. The upbeat reports likely reflected nearly $900 billion in additional pandemic relief provided by the government in late December.

Source: Reuters

Analysis: Economic Update on the UK Manufacturing Industry

As part of a seminar programme in preparation for MACH 2022, listen to an economist give an update on the UK manufacturing industry.

Rhys Herbert, senior economist in the research department of Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking gave the seminar. Mr Herbert is responsible for analysing and forecasting trends in the UK and other major economies, with a special interest in the manufacturing sector.

Source: Production Engineering Solutions

Manufacturers and the 5G Evolution

The fourth industrial revolution will be empowered when 5G is meaningfully adopted in production settings, predicated on early adoption and scalable deployment. Dritan Kaleshi from the Digital Catapult explains more.

5G is the next evolution in mobile connectivity. Its adoption will form the backbone of the fourth industrial revolution, helping to transform key sectors of the UK economy. In addition it will boost the uptake of other emerging, transformative digital technologies, such as IoT and artificial intelligence, with the potential to contribute up to £14.8bn 5G-enabled revenue potential for the UK.

Source: The Manufacturer