NAM Manufacturers’ Outlook Survey: Third Quarter 2018

Manufacturing activity remains robust—one of the brightest spots in the economy right now. In the latest Manufacturers’ Outlook Survey from the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), it is clear that manufacturing leaders in the United States continue to have unprecedented levels of optimism, spurred by improvements in the global economy and, in particular, by pro-growth policies such as tax reform and regulatory relief. Overall, 92.5 percent of those completing the survey said that they were either somewhat or very positive about their own company’s outlook (Figure 1). This continues the high rate of optimism reported since the beginning of 2017, including the 95.1 percent result in June, which was the highest rate since the survey was introduced in the fourth quarter of 1997.