IAR’S INLAND EMPIRE REPORT ON BUSINESS

Report for April 2014

Sponsors:
San Bernardino County Economic Development Agency
Riverside County Economic Development Agency

(Editor’s note: The Inland Empire (I.E.) is a metropolitan area and region of Southern California. It is situated directly east of the Los Angeles metropolitan area.)

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THE SKY IS NOT FALLING – PMI BACK ABOVE 50

According to Barbara Sirotnik (Director, Institute of Applied Research), and Lori Aldana (Project Coordinator, Institute of Applied Research), “This month’s PMI (59.1) was a significant increase from last month’s figure (49.0), indicating that last month’s dip below 50 was an anomaly rather than the beginning of a new trend.”

“All indices which comprise the PMI showed stability or improvement since last month. Especially positive is the fact that the Production Index jumped from 48.3 last month to 65.2 this month, and New Orders registered also a jump from 50.0 to 65.2 this month. The Employment Index (an especially critical measure) returned to 54.5 after dropping to 46.7 last month. Commodity Prices (65.2) increased over last month’s 60.0, and Supplier Deliveries also increased from 51.7 to 56.1 this month.”