Results from the November Manufacturing Business Outlook Survey suggest that regional manufacturing activity continued to expand. The indexes for general activity, new orders, and shipments all remained positive this month. Overall, labor market conditions remained weak, however. More firms reported increases in prices in November compared with October. Firms expect continued growth for manufacturing over the next six months, although expectations were less optimistic than last month.

The index for current manufacturing activity in the region edged down, from a reading of 9.7 in October to 7.6 this month.