California Business Minute™

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Hi, I am Tim Johnson and welcome to the California Business Minute.

The California Purchasing Managers Index, released July 21 by the Anderson Center
for Economic Research at Chapman University, decreased marginally from 50.5 in the
first quarter of 2008 to 50.3 in the second quarter, indicating very little growth in this sector.
At the same time, commodity prices paid by manufacturers reached their highest level
since the survey started in 2002. The employment index decreased from 48.3 to 44.6,
indicating decline in manufacturing jobs in the second quarter.

The Orange County’s Manufacturing Survey, a Composite Index for Orange County increased
from 46.8 in the first quarter of 2008 to 49.1 in the second quarter according to a survey of
purchasing managers. This indicates that the manufacturing sector of Orange County contracted
for the second consecutive quarter.

However, seeing a glimmer of growth the high-tech industries index registered 50.8, and the
index for the durable goods industries other than high-tech registered 51.4. This indicates that
both groups of industries grew slightly in the second quarter of 2008.

Unfortunately the Orange County manufacturing sector fared worse than both the California
and the national manufacturing sectors.

I am Tim Johnson and this has been the California Business Minute.