The ISM-New York Report on Business is released on the second business day of each month at 9:45am ET. The Report, which was first run in 1917, is a highly regarded indicator of business conditions in the New York Metro area including a six-month outlook, employment index, and current and expected revenues.  The February report, which can be downloaded here, allows us to make the following observations: New York City purchasing managers reported slower growth while still indicating a faster pace of activity in February.Current Business Conditions came in at 51.3 in February, continuing the slide from December's fourteen-month high.With the exception of Employment, which fell below the breakeven point in February, all report indices stayed in growth territory, even as future optimism eased for the third consecutive month. Two indices - Quantity of Purchases and Current Revenues - increased over January's findings.The annual ISM-New York economic forum held in New York City on February 22nd, gives us an opportunity to dig further into the following three themes in this month's podcast: the difference between uncertainty and risk, the rationale of purchasing timing and contract length based on procurement’s perception of risk, and healthy unemployment and labor availability.