US Manufacturing Grows Solidly But Inflation and Labor Crunch Take Toll

An employee works on a Ford Motor Co. F-Series truck on the assembly line at the Ford Dearborn Truck Plant in Dearborn, Mich., on Jan. 26, 2022. Jeff Kowalsky/AFP via Getty Images

The U.S. manufacturing sector expanded in May, according to two separate sets of U.S. factory performance gauges, which diverged in the details. But both gauges show hiring difficulties and inflationary pressures weighing on economic activity.

One of the measures, the Institute for Supply Management’s (ISM) Manufacturing PMI, rose to 56.1 percent in May from 55.4 percent in the prior month, indicating a slight acceleration in the pace of U.S. factory activity growth.