Jobless Rate Declines Unexpectedly
Employers shed 11,000 jobs last month, the fewest since the recession began in December 2007, according to the U.S. Department of Labor on Friday. The U.S. unemployment rate fell to 10 percent, from 10.2 percent the previous month. The improvement in job losses in November was much better than expected, as employers all but stopped shedding jobs.

"Although 15.4 million people are struggling to find work, the November report revealed signs of improvement across the country," the New York Times says. "More than 50,000 temporary workers were hired, the first surge in months and often a precursor to companies hiring permanent workers. Employees worked more hours, even in manufacturing."

In fact, according to an Associated Press report last week, "Counties with the heaviest reliance on manufacturing income are posting some of the biggest employment gains of the nation's early economic recovery." The AP Economic Stress Index found that manufacturing counties have "outperformed the national average since March." The AP notes that this is "a big change from just half a year ago, when some economists worried that widespread layoffs by U.S. manufacturers might be part of an irreversible trend in that sector."

The unexpected improvement in the latest monthly unemployment numbers came as a relief to the Obama administration, which 24 hours prior to the unemployment report held a high-profile summit to drum up ideas for accelerating job growth. The administration plans to unveil new proposals this week to ease the plight of the jobless following the conclusion of the labor summit.

While the numbers signaled improvement, economists have been quick to note that one month's data don't make a trend.

The Alliance for American Manufacturing last week called for aggressive action to spur job creation in the sector. The industry trade group pointed out that manufacturing has lost 5 million jobs and 51,000 plants in the last 10 years.

Manufacturing Orders Rise
For the sixth time in the past seven months, U.S. manufacturing orders rose in October, providing additional signs of a strengthening recovery in the industrial sector, according to the latest monthly data.

The Department of Commerce's report on U.S. manufacturing shipments, orders and inventories says that new orders for manufactured goods increased by 0.6 percent, or $2.1 billion, in October, reaching a total of $360.5 billion for the month and following a September increase of 1.6 percent.

Shipments, up for the last four out of five months, increased by 0.8 percent, or $3.1 billion, in October, following a 1.3 percent gain in September. Manufacturers' inventories increased by 0.4 percent, following 13 months of consecutive declines and bringing the shipments-to-inventories ratio to 1.34, down from 1.35 in September.

The Commerce Department attributes much of the gains to increasing demand for non-durable goods — particularly petroleum, plastics, chemicals and food — which saw new orders rise by 1.6 percent in October, compared to a 0.6 decline in durable goods orders.

The increase in factory orders was surprising, the Associated Press reports, as most experts expected demand for manufactured goods to remain flat through October.

Credit Conditions Improve
Access to and availability of credit for manufacturing firms and the private sector as a whole improved in November, according to recent data. The findings offer encouraging signs that many industries may be emerging from the credit crunch.

According to the latest monthly credit index from the National Credit Managers' Association, released on Tuesday, favorable conditions for manufacturing rose 1.4 points, reaching 54.9 in November (an index reading above 50 indicates growth), while the number of credit rejections and disputes fell.

After hitting approximately 50 in September, thus ending the decline in credit availability, the number of new credit applications from manufacturers rose through November, indicating that the severely constrained access to credit that characterized much of the previous two years may finally be over, though the improvement is still a gradual one.

"Manufacturing remains fragile in the economy at the moment and much of the focus is now on next year," Chris Kuehl, economic analyst for NACM, said in an announcement of the findings. "The sense is that some of the more moribund sectors will start to stage a mild recovery and manufacturers are trying to get in the proper position."

"The attempt to catch up on credit is one signal, but so is the expansion of credit application so that future demand needs might be met successfully," Kuehl added.

Safety at Chemical Plants Highlighted
To coincide with the 25th anniversary of the chemical plant disaster in Bhopal, India, a coalition of representatives from several organizations issued a call last week for legislators and businesses to work together toward improving plant safety protocols in the chemical industry, health and safety journal EHS Today reports.

The coalition, which includes the United Steelworkers, the International Chemical Workers Union Council and Greenpeace, advocate introducing safer alternatives to existing processes, such as replacing chlorine gas with ultraviolet light in wastewater treatment, improved security and training to reduce the risk of potential terrorist attack on chemical facilities and a reduction in on-site hazardous chemical storage, according to EHS Today.

"[W]e can reduce the consequences of an attack or accident at one of these facilities by employing the common sense solution of using safer chemicals and processes in many cases," Elizabeth Hitchcock, public affairs advocate for the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, told EHS Today.

The group has also called for legislation to expand the authority of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to improve security at the nation's chemical plants, drinking water and wastewater facilities.

New Government Contracting Hub Launched
American Express OPEN has teamed up with a number of other small-business partners — SCORE, BusinessMatchmaking.com and Women Impacting Public Policy — to introduce a new hub for government contracting. The recently launched program, called Victory in Procurement (VIP), is intended to help entrepreneurs access as much as $1 billion in procurement contracts.

"Having spent nearly $400 billion in fiscal year 2007, the federal government is the world's largest single purchaser of goods and services," an announcement of the program states. "With an additional $787 billion in economic recovery funds to be spent and a procurement goal to award 23 percent of federal contracting dollars to small firms, the federal government represents one of the few major areas of growth in today's economy."

The program offers a step-by-step guide for contracting process, starting with how to register as a contractor and how to prepare your business to deal with the government.