Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization - G.17

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Release Date: October 17, 2024

Industrial production (IP) decreased 0.3 percent in September after advancing 0.3 percent in August. A strike at a major producer of civilian aircraft held down total IP growth by an estimated 0.3 percent in September, and the effects of two hurricanes subtracted an estimated 0.3 percent. For the third quarter as a whole, industrial production declined at an annual rate of 0.6 percent. Manufacturing output moved down 0.4 percent in September, and the index for mining fell 0.6 percent. The index for utilities gained 0.7 percent. At 102.6 percent of its 2017 average, total industrial production in September was 0.6 percent below its year-earlier level. Capacity utilization edged down to 77.5 percent in September, a rate that is 2.2 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 Sept. '23 to
Sept. '24
Apr.[r] May[r] June[r] July[r] Aug.[r] Sept.[p] Apr.[r] May[r] June[r] July[r] Aug.[r] Sept.[p]
       
Total index 102.4 103.1 103.2 102.6 102.9 102.6 -.2 .7 .2 -.6 .3 -.3 -.6
Previous estimates 102.4 103.2 103.3 102.3 103.1   -.1 .7 .1 -.9 .8    
       
Major market groups
Final Products 100.6 100.8 101.1 100.5 101.0 100.4 .0 .2 .3 -.6 .5 -.6 -.7
Consumer goods 101.7 101.9 102.4 101.6 102.1 102.3 .2 .3 .4 -.8 .6 .2 .2
Business equipment 94.2 94.4 94.1 94.0 94.2 90.9 -.7 .3 -.4 -.1 .2 -3.5 -4.2
Nonindustrial supplies 100.3 101.2 101.8 101.4 101.3 101.5 -.5 .9 .5 -.3 -.2 .2 .3
Construction 99.6 100.3 100.6 100.4 100.9 100.8 -1.7 .8 .3 -.2 .4 -.1 -.2
Materials 104.5 105.6 105.5 104.8 105.2 105.0 -.2 1.0 -.1 -.7 .4 -.2 -.9
       
Major industry groups
Manufacturing (see note below) 98.8 99.5 99.5 99.0 99.5 99.1 -.7 .7 -.1 -.5 .5 -.4 -.5
Previous estimates 98.9 99.6 99.4 98.7 99.6   -.6 .8 -.2 -.7 .9    
Mining 119.5 118.7 119.1 118.0 118.9 118.2 -.1 -.7 .3 -.9 .7 -.6 -2.2
Utilities 104.7 107.0 108.6 107.4 106.0 106.8 3.6 2.2 1.5 -1.1 -1.3 .7 .6

Capacity utilization Percent of capacity Capacity
growth
Average
1972-
2023 		1988-
89
high 		1990-
91
low 		1994-
95
high 		 
2009
low 		 
2023
Sept. 		   
2024 Sept. '23 to
Sept. '24
Apr.[r] May[r] June[r] July[r] Aug.[r] Sept.[p]
       
Total industry 79.7 85.2 78.7 84.8 66.6 78.9 77.7 78.1 78.2 77.6 77.8 77.5 1.2
Previous estimates             77.7 78.2 78.2 77.4 78.0    
       
Manufacturing (see note below) 78.3 85.5 77.1 84.4 63.5 78.1 76.9 77.4 77.2 76.8 77.1 76.7 1.3
Previous estimates             76.9 77.5 77.2 76.6 77.2    
Mining 86.5 86.3 84.3 88.6 78.9 90.1 89.3 88.8 89.1 88.4 89.1 88.7 -.7
Utilities 84.5 93.2 84.7 93.2 78.1 73.3 70.8 72.2 73.1 72.0 70.9 71.2 3.5
       
Stage-of-process groups
Crude 85.6 87.9 84.9 90.0 77.0 88.1 86.6 87.0 87.5 86.6 87.1 86.8 -.4
Primary and semifinished 80.2 86.5 77.6 87.5 63.7 77.6 76.2 76.9 76.9 76.4 76.3 76.4 1.6
Finished 76.8 83.3 77.6 80.4 66.2 76.8 75.7 75.8 75.7 75.2 75.6 74.7 1.8
[r] Revised. [p] Preliminary.

Market Groups

The major market groups posted mixed results in September. Among consumer goods, the production of durables decreased 0.7 percent. In contrast, the index for nondurables increased 0.5 percent, boosted by a 1.7 percent increase in energy goods. The output of business equipment declined 3.5 percent in September, weighed down by a sharp drop of 14.2 percent in the production of transit equipment largely due to the work stoppage in civilian aircraft. Business supplies posted a gain in September, while the index of construction supplies edged down. The production of non-energy materials edged down 0.1 percent in September, as a 0.3 percent decline in the durable non-energy component more than offset a 0.1 percent increase in the nondurable non-energy component. The output of energy materials declined 0.3 percent.

Industry Groups

Manufacturing output declined 0.4 percent in September and was 0.5 percent below its year-earlier level. The production of durable goods industries fell 1 percent, with declines widespread among its components. In addition to a drop of 8.3 percent in the output of aerospace and miscellaneous transportation equipment, declines of 1 percent or more were recorded for furniture and related products, for motor vehicles and parts, and for electrical equipment, appliances, and components. The production of nondurable goods increased 0.2 percent, as gains in the indexes of chemicals and of petroleum and coal products outweighed declines in the indexes of textile and product mills and of apparel and leather.

Mining output decreased 0.6 percent in September, as the effects of two hurricanes on oil and gas extraction more than offset gains elsewhere. The output of utilities increased 0.7 percent in September, as both electric and natural gas utilities moved up.

Capacity utilization for manufacturing decreased 0.4 percentage point in September to 76.7 percent, a rate that is 1.6 percentage points below its long-run average. The operating rate for mining fell 0.4 percentage point to 88.7 percent, while the operating rate for utilities rose 0.3 percentage point to 71.2 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: October 17, 2024