As the U.S. economy contracts, widespread job loss — 1.3 million jobs were lost in the first 11 months of 2009 — has taken its toll on consumer spending and demand for industrial space. The national industrial vacancy rate hit a 15-year high at 10.3 percent in the third quarter, according to Cushman & Wakefield reports. But with the recession officially over, the industry is showing some small signs of recovery as well. According to the Federal Reserve, industrial production during the third quarter of 2009 surprisingly reported the largest quarterly gain in more than four years. And, significantly, the Institute for Supply Management’s (ISM) manufacturing index, an important measure of the economy’s overall strength, reported 52.6 in September, indicating some economic growth, albeit slow growth.

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