U.S. production of major plastic resins reached 7.0 billion pounds during March, a total that is 5.0% higher than the same month last year, according to the latest Weekly Chemistry and Economic Report from the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com).
“Year-to-date production was 20.4 billion pounds,” the ACC report added, a 6.7% increase as compared to the same period in 2015.
The report also discussed recent employment data. Chemical industry employment as a whole lost 600 jobs in April, the report says. This is the first decline in the last six months. However, the number of chemical industry production workers continued to expand (by 400 jobs) for the 15th consecutive month. Chemical industry wages rose 2.2% compared to a year ago at the same time, the report says.
Meanwhile, chemical equity prices, as measured by the S&P index for chemical companies, rose by 2.7% in April. The benchmark S&P 500 index edged higher by 0.3% in April. Equity prices are often a good indicator of future activity and represent one component of the leading economic indicators, the report says. Compared to the beginning of the year, chemical equities were up 2.8%, while the S&P 500 index was up by 1.0% year-to-date.