Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization - G.17

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Release Date: November 15, 2024

Industrial production (IP) decreased 0.3 percent in October after declining 0.5 percent in September. A strike at a major producer of civilian aircraft held down total IP growth by an estimated 0.3 percentage point in September and 0.2 percentage point in October. Hurricane Milton and the lingering effects of Hurricane Helene together reduced October IP growth 0.1 percentage point. In October, manufacturing output moved down 0.5 percent, the index for mining rose 0.3 percent, and the index for utilities gained 0.7 percent. At 102.3 percent of its 2017 average, total IP in October was 0.3 percent below its year-earlier level. Capacity utilization moved down to 77.1 percent in October, a rate that is 2.6 percentage points below its long-run (1972–2023) average.

Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization: Summary
Seasonally adjusted
Industrial production 2017=100 Percent change
2024 2024 Oct. '23 to
Oct. '24
May[r] June[r] July[r] Aug.[r] Sept.[r] Oct.[p] May[r] June[r] July[r] Aug.[r] Sept.[r] Oct.[p]
       
Total index 103.0 103.3 102.5 103.0 102.5 102.3 .6 .3 -.7 .5 -.5 -.3 -.3
Previous estimates 103.1 103.2 102.6 102.9 102.6   .7 .2 -.6 .3 -.3    
       
Major market groups
Final Products 100.8 101.1 100.5 101.1 100.3 99.7 .2 .3 -.6 .6 -.8 -.6 -.7
Consumer goods 101.8 102.4 101.6 102.3 102.3 102.3 .2 .5 -.8 .8 .0 .0 .9
Business equipment 94.4 94.1 94.0 94.1 90.8 88.3 .3 -.4 -.1 .1 -3.5 -2.7 -6.1
Nonindustrial supplies 101.1 101.7 101.0 100.9 100.9 100.8 .8 .5 -.7 -.1 .0 -.1 -.2
Construction 100.3 100.4 99.8 100.2 99.9 99.9 .7 .2 -.6 .3 -.3 .1 -.8
Materials 105.5 105.7 104.8 105.4 105.0 104.9 .9 .1 -.8 .6 -.4 .0 .0
       
Major industry groups
Manufacturing (see note below) 99.5 99.4 98.8 99.4 99.0 98.5 .7 .0 -.6 .6 -.3 -.5 -.3
Previous estimates 99.5 99.5 99.0 99.5 99.1   .7 -.1 -.5 .5 -.4    
Mining 118.3 119.5 118.5 120.0 117.8 118.2 -1.0 1.0 -.8 1.3 -1.9 .3 -1.5
Utilities 107.0 108.9 107.5 106.3 106.7 107.4 2.3 1.7 -1.3 -1.1 .3 .7 1.5

Capacity utilization Percent of capacity Capacity
growth
Average
1972-
2023 		1988-
89
high 		1990-
91
low 		1994-
95
high 		 
2009
low 		 
2023
Oct. 		   
2024 Oct. '23 to
Oct. '24
May[r] June[r] July[r] Aug.[r] Sept.[r] Oct.[p]
       
Total industry 79.7 85.2 78.7 84.8 66.6 78.3 78.1 78.2 77.6 77.9 77.4 77.1 1.2
Previous estimates             78.1 78.2 77.6 77.8 77.5    
       
Manufacturing (see note below) 78.3 85.5 77.1 84.4 63.5 77.4 77.3 77.2 76.7 77.0 76.7 76.2 1.3
Previous estimates             77.4 77.2 76.8 77.1 76.7    
Mining 86.5 86.3 84.3 88.6 78.9 89.4 88.5 89.4 88.8 90.0 88.4 88.7 -.8
Utilities 84.5 93.2 84.7 93.2 78.1 72.8 72.2 73.3 72.1 71.1 71.1 71.4 3.5
       
Stage-of-process groups
Crude 85.6 87.9 84.9 90.0 77.0 87.1 86.7 87.8 86.9 87.8 86.6 86.7 -.5
Primary and semifinished 80.2 86.5 77.6 87.5 63.7 77.0 76.9 76.9 76.2 76.3 76.4 76.2 1.6
Finished 76.8 83.3 77.6 80.4 66.2 76.2 75.8 75.7 75.2 75.5 74.7 74.1 1.8
[r] Revised. [p] Preliminary.

Market Groups

The major market groups posted mixed results in October. The output of consumer goods was little changed. Among consumer goods, the production of durables decreased 1.4 percent, while the index for nondurables increased 0.4 percent, with growth in the indexes for both nondurable energy and nondurable non-energy goods. The output of business equipment fell 2.7 percent in October following a 3.5 percent decline in September. As in September, the October decline was led by a sharp drop in the production of transit equipment, largely due to the work stoppage in civilian aircraft. The index of construction supplies ticked up in October, while the index of business supplies edged down. The production of materials was unchanged, as declines in the durable non-energy and nondurable non-energy components were offset by a 0.8 percent increase in the output of energy materials.

Industry Groups

Manufacturing output declined 0.5 percent in October and was 0.3 percent below its year-earlier level. The index of durable goods industries fell 1.2 percent, with widespread declines among its components. In addition to a drop of 5.8 percent in the output of aerospace and miscellaneous transportation equipment, declines of 1 percent or more were recorded for primary metals, for motor vehicles and parts, and for furniture and related products. The production of nondurable goods inched up, as gains in the indexes of chemicals, of paper, and of petroleum and coal products offset declines in the indexes of textile mills, of apparel and leather, of printing and support, and of plastics and rubber products.

Mining output increased 0.3 percent in October, as a decline in coal mining was more than offset by a partial rebound in oil and gas extraction following hurricane-induced declines in September. The output of utilities rose 0.7 percent in October, as an increase in electric utilities was partially offset by a decrease in natural gas utilities.

Capacity utilization for manufacturing decreased 0.5 percentage point in October to 76.2 percent, a rate that is 2.1 percentage points below its long-run average. The operating rate for mining rose 0.3 percentage point to 88.7 percent, while the operating rate for utilities rose 0.3 percentage point to 71.4 percent. The rate for mining was 2.2 percentage points above its long-run average, while the rate for utilities remained substantially below its long-run average.

Note. The statistics in this release cover output, capacity, and capacity utilization in the U.S. industrial sector, which is defined by the Federal Reserve to comprise manufacturing, mining, and electric and gas utilities. Mining is defined as all industries in sector 21 of the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS); electric and gas utilities are those in NAICS sectors 2211 and 2212. Manufacturing comprises NAICS manufacturing industries (sector 31-33) plus the logging industry and the newspaper, periodical, book, and directory publishing industries. Logging and publishing are classified elsewhere in NAICS (under agriculture and information, respectively), but historically they were considered to be manufacturing and were included in the industrial sector under the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system. In December 2002 the Federal Reserve reclassified all its industrial output data from the SIC system to NAICS.

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Last Update: November 15, 2024