Factories are having a hard time keeping up with orders
01 March 2021
The manufacturing sector has bounced back from its pandemic knockout. But as the economy reopens, factories can't keep up with orders.
Why it matters: The materials manufacturers need are hard to find and prices for them are soaring.
- The shortages could delay orders for companies relying on them, while the price surges could ripple out to the consumer.
Stunning stat: An important gauge of manufacturing activity in America matched the highest level in 17 years last month, a closely eyed survey by the Institute for Supply Management showed Monday.
Context: Last April — at the onset of the pandemic — the industry was in the worst shape since the global financial crisis.
- The biggest winners since then: food and beverage manufacturers, along with makers of computers, chemicals and metals.
- Losers: petroleum and coal manufacturers — the only sector to contract last month.
Yes, but: Material shortages could prevent factories from making good on the surge in orders.
What they're saying: “Everything is a mess, and we are seeing wide-scale shortages," one appliance and electrical equipment maker said.
Plus: Factories have increasingly reported paying more for materials, with the latest data showing manufacturers paying the most since 2008.
What's going on: Companies are "not able to have as many people at the sawmills or as many people in the foundries making steel" because of COVID-19 work restrictions, leading to manufacturers' shortages, Ben Ayers, an economist at Nationwide, tells Axios.
What to watch: The problems come as the Biden administration prioritizes revitalizing the sector and boosting jobs — promises made by his predecessor.
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.