Economic Market Update

While the hallmarks of this year’s economic activity in the United States and other advanced economies have been slower year-on-year growth rates with relatively high inflation, the pressures on EM and LIDC economies are dire—and mounting with each passing month.

The outbreak of the COVID pandemic has created chaos over the past two years. But some of the after-effects continue to linger for the economy. Looking to the months ahead, addressing these lingering risks will be critical for the U.S. economy—and the outlook for material handling.

Economic Market Analysis BY JASON SCHENKER, PRESTIGE ECONOMICS To say that 2021 was a strong year for U.S. and global economic growth would be quite an understatement. Coming out of the 2020 COVID-19 recession, growth in 2021 reflected a massive rebound as stimulative fiscal policies and accommodative monetary policies pushed the U.S. economy to post some of the strongest real ...

In planning ahead for 2022, there are many reasons to be optimistic. After all, there have been trend improvements in the economy and financial markets in 2021, following the painful COVID hit in 2020.

By Jason Schenker United States and global growth prospects have improved greatly since the start of the year. The rollout of COVID vaccinations has proven to be the logical antidote to the economic woes engendered by the pandemic. Yes, there are still some sectors that lag and some regions experiencing sluggish recoveries. But the labor market, the economy and the ...

By Jason Schenker Despite major challenges at the start of the year, 2021 is poised to build economic momentum in the months and quarters ahead. This is true for manufacturing and material handling, but service industries are also poised to gain ground and experience significant year-on-year growth in the months ahead as vaccinations reach scale domestically and abroad. On the ...

By Jason Schenker The outlook for 2021 is solid—especially compared to 2020. In general, the year should be one of positive growth and improvements in economic activity, even if the trend of improvements is occasionally punctuated by intermittent COVID-19 outbreaks and systemic aftershocks in industries that have experienced asymmetric negative impacts in the wake of the COVID pandemic outbreak. Buttressing ...

Looking Forward to 2021 Despite Election Uncertainty Risks BY JASON SCHENKER, PRESTIGE ECONOMICS As we begin to plan for the year ahead, we need to look back at 2020, understand current uncertainties and be prepared for how they could cast a shadow on the year ahead. Fortunately, we also need to consider upside opportunities for the economy and material handling ...

The material handling industry first came together during the conflict of the Second World War to form the organization we know as MHI. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of material handling and supply chain has again come to the fore as a necessary precondition of economic growth and a bulwark of national security. Economists and policy makers have long known ...

MHI commissioned Oxford Economics to quantify the economic impact of the material handling industry through research, analysis and impact modeling.