Bloomberg, January 2012

Hiring Logjam Breaks as CEOs Plan Growth

“The ground seems to be set for a pretty decent near-term outlook for manufacturing,” said Stephen Stanley, chief economist for Pierpont Securities in Stamford, Connecticut. “There’s still room for job growth there if demand continues to pick up.”

That’s a possibility at the U.S. unit of Germany’s Harting Deutschland GmbH, a maker of industrial connectors. CEO Rolf Meyer said his business probably will hire 20 more people in 2012, after doubling the workforce to 120 since the recession.

“We have a couple of large orders that we’re negotiating on in the broadcast and medical industries, and these will likely hit in the next five or six months,” said Meyer, who supplies customers such as GE, Siemens AG (SIE) and Alstom SA (ALO) from operations based in Elgin, Illinois.

Investors have taken note: The Standard & Poor’s 500 Industrials Index gained 23 percent through yesterday since the start of the fourth quarter, compared with a 15 percent advance for the broader S&P 500.

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