The article, Manufacturing activity, employment on the rise, written by Chris Isidore reports that according to readings of the manufacturing sector, manufacturing grew during the month of December. Implying that the U.S. ended the year with growth in the manufacturing sector. Going further the article mentions unemployment going down. To support the claims Isidore takes survey results done by the Institute of Supply Management (ISM) and Briefing.com. Disclosing that the ISM surveyed manufacturing purchasing managers, while briefing.com surveyed economists. The surveys were examining the manufacturing sector to figure out it if manufacturing activity has been continuing to rise, as has been reported. In addition it was looking to find the effect it had on employment. The data used from the surveys supports the author’s claims, but it is unknown who sponsored this research. The article also does not disclose the survey questions or surveyors methodology. The specific numbers selected from the survey are given to the reader in a clear concise manner. However, without knowing the context of the survey questions it is unknown how supportive the data is. Isidore does not include any graphs or charts, but instead lets the numbers speak for themselves. At the end Isidore includes the advice of economists, saying "it's important not to read to much into the end of the year strength." Maybe what they're really trying to say is this data can be misleading?
Isidore, Chris. "Manufacturing activity, employment on the rise." CNNMoney, January 3, 2012. http://money.cnn.com/2012/01/03/news/economy/ism_manufacturing/index.htm
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