‘Record Optimism’: Over 95 Percent of Manufacturers Positive About the Future

Workers build bed frames at the Hollywood Bed Frame Company factory in Commerce, Calif., on April 14, 2017. ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images

Optimism about the future for manufacturing companies in the United States has hit an all-time record.

A new survey from the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) found that 95.1 percent of manufacturers have a “positive outlook” about their own companies. That’s the highest rate recorded since the survey was first introduced in the fourth quarter of 1997, over 20 years ago.