Published on Tuesday, November 03, 2009
By JACK KATZANEK
The last time the index that charts Inland Southern California's manufacturing sector was this high, the area's unemployment rate was negligible and almost no one cared about or had even heard of subprime mortgages.
The Purchasing Managers Index for San Bernardino and Riverside counties soared to 55.2 in October, up from 43.5 in the previous month and is at its highest level since February 2007, according a report released Monday by the Institute of Applied Research at California State University, San Bernardino. An index above 50 indicates an expanding factory sector.
Economists look for three consecutive months above or below 50 before they believe it could be a trend, and the index that follows the sector nationally has done that. The 55.7 national reading reported by Tempe, Ariz.-based Institute for Supply Management was the highest in three years.
All of the factors that produce the report for the Inland area were positive in October
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