First Coast manufacturers show signs of expansion in January

The University of North Florida Jacksonville Economic Monitoring Survey (JEMS) shows industries in the region modestly improved in several indicators last month.

Nine out of 12 key components in the manufacturing sector showed improvement in January.

“These measures suggest that Jacksonville companies are seeing enough business to keep operations active and cautiously plan for growth over the next few months,” said Albert Loh, who oversees the JEMS survey and is Associate Dean at the UNF Coggin College of Business.

While the majority of indicators expanded, one of the most important elements, employment, showed contraction last month.

“An employment index reading of 48 in January indicates that manufacturing employment in Jacksonville edged down compared with the prior month. More local manufacturers reported reducing headcount than increasing it. Some may rely more on overtime, temporary workers, or productivity improvements instead of expanding payrolls,” Loh said.

Meanwhile, another key indicator showed signs of strength in North Florida. Manufacturing output is on the upswing, UNF researchers found.

“An output index reading of 60 in January signals expansion for the Jacksonville economy. This kind of output strength tends to ripple outward. Higher production typically increases demand for packaging, warehousing, trucking, port services, and a range of business services that support manufacturing,” Loh said.

“It also signals that firms are not just optimistic on paper — they are actively producing more right now, which often aligns with stronger order flow or a restocking cycle.”

UNF researchers from the JEMS project reach out to First Coast manufacturing companies each month to see where they stand on production and several other factors.

Other areas of expansion in North Florida included new orders, new export orders, backlogs of work, output prices, quantity of input purchased, supplier delivery times, and business activity outlook over the next year. Two other areas that contracted were inventory of input purchased and finished goods inventory.