KENNESAW - February's Purchasing Managers Index Report for Georgia showed an increase of 10.3 points, while the Southeast PMI jumped 11 points and the National PMI slipped 1.9 points. All three PMIs showed an increase in employment.

The monthly report is an economic indicator drawn from a survey of manufacturers in Georgia. It measures commodity prices, new orders, production, employment, supplier delivery time and finished goods inventory. Don Sabbarese, director of the Econometric Center at Kennesaw State University, prepares the state report.

All six variables showed an increase in Georgia's PMI, with the largest jump coming from finished goods inventory with a 21.1 increase to 50. Over the past month, new orders in Georgia jumped 7.3 points to 65.2, production rose 11.3 points to 56.1, employment rose 11.1 points to 54.5, supply deliveries grew 0.8 points to 56.1 and commodity prices rose 6.9 points to 72.7.

Sabbarese said the sharp rise in production and inventory suggest the higher new orders may continue for the near future, while employment's 11.1 point increase is its first substantive increase in six months. Although the National PMI showed an overall decrease, employment increased 2.8 points to 56.3 in the national index.

According to a survey conducted by the KSU Econometric Center, 48 percent of respondents reported higher expected production in the next three to six months, which is up from 42 percent in January. Nine percent expect it to be lower than their current production. This shows a growth in confidence by business owners, as 26 percent of respondents during December's survey expected their production to be lower in the next three to six months.

"It is too early to tell if the SE and Georgia PMIs improvements are sustainable as is the case for the National PMI, which has followed this trend since August 2009," Sabbarese said, in the report. "The Georgian and Southeast February PMIs and their underlying variables have caught up to the National PMI. While the National PMI has established a sustainable trend it is still too early to tell if that is the case for Georgia and the Southeast. But February's numbers are substantially above their six-month averages."