Economic and Market Conditions Drive Industry Optimism While Labor Force Issues Lead Negative Drivers

By Sharon Starr, director, market research IPC’s second-quarter 2019 Pulse of the Electronics Industry survey results indicated a bump in the positive impact of economic and market conditions. Sixty-one percent of the respondents’ open-ended comments about what is driving industry growth cited economic, market or demand growth. Some of these comments mentioned the impact of tariffs and reshoring. On balance, however, trade and tariff issues were far more often cited as conditions that are increasing costs and limiting growth. Among negative impacts on the industry, trade and tariff issues are second only to labor force issues. The third-quarter survey is now online and open until July 19.