The seasonally adjusted Milwaukee Report on Business climbed to 47.7 in August from 47.1 in July, the Institute for Supply Management-Milwaukee reported Monday.
New orders received grew to 47.5 from 46.1, production slumped to 32.8 from 44.9, employment gained to 47.0 from 45.7, supplier deliveries rose to 57.4 from 48.9, and backlog of orders grew to 57.1 from 42.9.
Inventory levels improved to 53.6 from 50.0, customers' inventories slid to 46.4 from 50.0, prices dropped to 28.6 from 39.3, exports rose to 36.4 from 35.0 and imports increased to 45.5 from 44.4.
The blue collar diffusion index climbed to 54.3 from 52.8, while the white collar diffusion index rose to 50.7 from 45.7.
