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The government said last week that manufacturers added 31,000 jobs in February. And factories have added 227,000 jobs over the past year. The number of hours worked by factory employees also rose 0.9 percent last month, according to Capital Economics. Two regional surveys released on Tuesday showed factories in the Northeast kept growing this month at a healthy pace and are hiring more workers. The surveys, conducted by the Federal Reserve banks of Philadelphia and New York, hit their highest readings since April 2011 and June 2010, respectively. Threats to factory growth remain. Rising fuel prices are increasing the cost of transporting goods to consumers. Europe's financial turmoil could weaken demand for U.S. exports. And another year of weak pay increases could force consumers to cut back on spending. Still, Ashworth said, the economy appears to be less reliant on manufacturing than it was in the early days of the recovery. Many manufacturers are big exporters, and they might be hurt by the recession in Europe and slower growth in China. "We've become more upbeat about the recovery, and it's not because we expect more from manufacturing," he said. "It's because we now expect more from construction and housing and services."
[Associated
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