Most dealers are optimistic about sales prospects through year s end, and are even more upbeat about the first quarter of 1997. Manufacturing and Other Business Activity Most District contacts continue to report growth at their firms and in their industries. Hiring and keeping qualified workers because of tight labor markets remains a big concern for many companies. One contact remarked that firms are having particular difficulty finding qualified workers because the skills needed today are much more specialized than they were in the early 1970s, when similar unemployment rates existed. Providers of transportation and delivery services are growing in the District, with both railroads and trucking firms adding workers.
Trucking companies report that there is currently a severe shortage of drivers.
The food and beverage industries also report sales and employment growth, with poultry processing firms adding workers and a beverage firm reporting sales increases over last year. Other firms, while still reporting growth, have recently noted a slowing in this growth. A chemicals company reports that sales are still above last year s, but they are not as robust as they were a few months ago. Die cast producers have also seen a slowing in their volumes. A contact in the scrap metal industry has noted a slowdown in the steel industry s rate of inventory increase, perhaps portending a downturn in that industry.