Consistent orders and production are giving manufacturers reason to thaw hiring freezes and potentially recall laid-off workers.

Economic recovery has started to glimmer a little brighter in a recent front page report by The Wall Street Journal. Consistent orders and production are giving manufacturers reason to thaw hiring freezes and potentially recall laid-off workers.

Encouraging factory output figures are appearing across several industries such as apparel, appliances and automotive goods. Factories, in fact, seem to be the big bright spot for the first quarter of 2010 with 11,000 new jobs added in January.

The big gain in industrial production hasn’t been lost on the Federal Reserve which acknowledges tangible gains on the road to economic recovery. That in turn may lead to the reversal of emergency policies set into place during the worst months of the downturn.

Allen Edmonds, a company specializing in high-end men’s shoes, began noticing business picking up in October. Although initially regarded as a fluke, business remained consistent with overtime required to fulfill orders by December.

Chief Executive Officer, Paul Grangerd, remains optimistic his companies fortunes will continue to thrive moving forward, “We depleted our inventories much faster than expected and ended up working overtime in December just to catch up and have been working overtime ever since.”

Electronic producer, LaBarge, Inc, is also seeing an upturn in business. Craig Labarge, CEO, reported, “Order inflow has really improved compared to a year ago.”

LaBarge is beginning to add to its 1,500 member strong workforce and iS looking to add upwards of another 100 employees over the next year. Mr. LaBarge’s attitude is unlike many other business owners these days.  He stated, “Every day that goes by we get a bit more comfortable.”

However, optimism was tempered with caution by the Federal Reserve whose report released last Wednesday indicated little downturn in the current unemployment rate of 9.7% for the remainder of 2010.

Additionally, the Federal Reserve said, “The pace of the economic recovery will be restrained by housing and business uncertainty,” as well as “only gradual improvement in labor market conditions.”

Scott Wine, CEO of Minneapolis-based Polaris Industries, which produces snow mobiles and opther vehicles, said “We are starting to see demand come back, but we’re trying to look at ways to make sure we don’t go out and get ahead of ourselves in terms of hiring and expenditures.”

Like any serious injury, sometimes a painful and slow recovery process is required for one to be back at 100% again. Being in the midst of that recovery can be frustrating, but it’s the tangible signs of recovery that keeps one going.

As a nation, we’re beginning to walk again economically, but it will require time before we can run.