The seasonally adjusted Milwaukee Report on Business rose to 70.3 in November from 65.6 in October, the Institute for Supply Management-Milwaukee reported Wednesday.
New orders received fell to 72.4 from 83.9, production slipped to 75.9 from 78.8, employment surged to 71.5 from 45.8, supplier deliveries gained to 73.9 from 66.7, and backlog of orders increased to 72.5 from 61.8.
Inventory levels grew to 57.5 from 52.9, customers' inventories climbed to 39.5 from 37.5, prices jumped to 62.5 from 55.9, exports declined to 53.3 from 57.1 and imports surged to 57.1 from 50.0.
The blue collar diffusion index climbed to 67.9 from 48.8, while the white collar diffusion index gained to 60.1 from 48.8.
