Although the US manufacturing sector contracted in February, it still improved from January, according to the Institute for Supply Management’s purchasing managers index for US manufacturing. February’s index reading was 49.5, up from January’s reading of 48.2. Readings below 50.0, generally, indicate contraction.

The employment portion of the index also contracted with a reading of 48.5 in February, but that was also an improvement from the reading of 45.9 in January.

Bloomberg reports February’s improvement corroborates other industry reports that suggest manufacturing is gaining traction.

“Forming a base and getting to rebound is the first step in the manufacturing sector healing,” said Tom Simons, a money-market economist at Jefferies LLC in New York, told Bloomberg. “It’s certainly encouraging to see the manufacturing start to turn it around because that suggests that services can do better at some point as well.”