Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond (03/22/22)
Mid-Atlantic manufacturing activity improved in March, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. The composite manufacturing index increased from 1 in February to 13 in March, with increases in all three of the component indexes—shipments, volume of new orders, and number of employees. Notably, the shipments index increased from -11 in February to 9 in March. The volume of new orders increased from -3 in February to 10 in March.
In general, firms continued to report increased hiring and rising wages. Additionally, the index for the average workweek increased notably in March.