It's encouraging to read about NACCO's hiring spree in the United States and its increases to shifts at a number of plants. One of the most dramatic responses to the global financial crisis was staff retrenchments and shift cuts as manufacturers around the world tried to rein in costs and also avoid inventory stockpiles as demand fell away. On the whole, the industry seems to have done a good job of avoiding over-supply and it's clear that job losses were, in most cases, the last resort. Hopefully, the latest hiring effort in the US is an indicator that the tide has well and truly turned.