Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization - G.17

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Release Date: June 14, 2019
The annual revision to industrial production and capacity utilization was published on March 27, 2019. Data referred to in the release dated March 15, 2019, were superseded by the data issued at the time of the annual revision. Information on the annual revision to industrial production and capacity utilization appears below.

Industrial production rose 0.4 percent in May after falling 0.4 percent in April. The indexes for manufacturing and mining gained 0.2 percent and 0.1 percent, respectively, in May; the index for utilities climbed 2.1 percent. At 109.6 percent of its 2012 average, total industrial production was 2.0 percent higher in May than it was a year earlier. Capacity utilization for the industrial sector moved up 0.2 percentage point in May to 78.1 percent, a rate that is 1.7 percentage points below its long-run (1972–2018) average.

Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization: Summary
Seasonally adjusted
Industrial production 2012=100 Percent change
2018
Dec.[r] 		2019 2018
Dec.[r] 		2019 May '18 to
May '19
Jan.[r] Feb.[r] Mar.[r] Apr.[r] May[p] Jan.[r] Feb.[r] Mar.[r] Apr.[r] May[p]
       
Total index 110.6 110.1 109.5 109.6 109.2 109.6 .0 -.4 -.6 .1 -.4 .4 2.0
Previous estimates 110.6 110.1 109.6 109.7 109.2   .0 -.4 -.5 .2 -.5    
       
Major market groups
Final Products 104.6 103.6 103.4 104.0 102.7 103.1 -.2 -1.0 -.2 .7 -1.3 .4 1.2
Consumer goods 106.8 105.3 105.4 106.0 104.5 105.1 -.5 -1.4 .1 .6 -1.4 .5 .1
Business equipment 103.2 103.2 101.9 102.8 101.2 101.5 .2 -.1 -1.2 .8 -1.5 .2 3.0
Nonindustrial supplies 109.1 109.5 108.4 108.2 107.6 108.0 .3 .4 -1.0 -.2 -.6 .4 -.4
Construction 117.5 117.8 115.9 116.0 115.2 115.5 1.7 .3 -1.7 .1 -.7 .2 .3
Materials 115.9 115.7 114.8 114.5 115.1 115.5 .1 -.2 -.7 -.2 .5 .3 3.5
       
Major industry groups
Manufacturing (see note below) 106.4 105.8 105.1 105.1 104.6 104.8 .6 -.6 -.6 .0 -.5 .2 .7
Previous estimates 106.4 105.7 105.2 105.2 104.7   .6 -.6 -.5 .0 -.5    
Mining 132.5 132.1 130.5 130.0 132.8 132.9 2.2 -.3 -1.3 -.4 2.2 .1 10.0
Utilities 103.6 104.4 105.1 106.8 103.5 105.7 -6.8 .8 .7 1.7 -3.1 2.1 .2
Capacity utilization Percent of capacity Capacity
growth
Average
1972-
2018 		1988-
89
high 		1990-
91
low 		1994-
95
high 		 
2009
low 		 
2018
May 		   
2018
Dec.[r] 		2019 May '18 to
May '19
Jan.[r] Feb.[r] Mar.[r] Apr.[r] May[p]
       
Total industry 79.8 85.1 78.8 85.0 66.7 78.1 79.5 79.0 78.4 78.4 77.9 78.1 2.1
Previous estimates             79.5 79.0 78.5 78.5 77.9    
       
Manufacturing (see note below) 78.3 85.5 77.3 84.6 63.7 76.0 77.3 76.7 76.2 76.1 75.6 75.7 1.1
Previous estimates             77.3 76.7 76.2 76.2 75.7    
Mining 87.1 86.3 84.3 88.6 78.3 89.0 93.3 92.5 90.9 90.1 91.6 91.3 7.2
Utilities 85.4 93.2 84.7 93.2 78.2 79.2 76.8 77.3 77.6 78.7 76.1 77.5 2.3
       
Stage-of-process groups
Crude 86.1 87.8 84.7 90.0 76.4 87.9 91.5 90.7 89.2 88.5 90.1 90.0 5.4
Primary and semifinished 80.4 86.4 78.1 87.8 63.9 77.2 77.4 77.2 76.7 76.7 75.7 76.0 1.4
Finished 76.8 83.3 77.3 80.6 66.5 74.5 76.0 75.4 75.1 75.3 74.6 74.6 1.3
r Revised. p Preliminary.
Market Groups

Moderate gains were widespread among the major market groups in May. The production of consumer goods rose 0.5 percent. An increase of 2.0 percent for consumer durables resulted from gains for all of its components but primarily reflected higher output of automotive products. The output of consumer nondurables edged up; an increase for consumer energy products was mostly offset by a decrease for non-energy nondurables. The indexes for business equipment and for defense and space equipment both increased modestly. The improvement for business equipment came despite a drop for transit equipment that resulted from a decrease in the output of commercial aircraft. The indexes for construction supplies, business supplies, and materials all moved up. The gain of 0.3 percent for materials was driven by increases for nondurable and energy materials.

Industry Groups

Manufacturing output increased 0.2 percent in May after having decreased about 0.4 percent per month, on average, in the first four months of the year. In May, the production of durable goods rose 0.3 percent, while the output of nondurable goods edged up 0.1 percent. Among durables, gains of more than 1 percent were posted by wood products; machinery; electrical equipment, appliances, and components; and motor vehicles and parts. These increases were partially offset by decreases in primary metals and in aerospace and miscellaneous transportation equipment. Among nondurables, the only gain greater than 1 percent was recorded by plastics and rubber products, and the only decline greater than 1 percent was recorded by apparel and leather products. The index for other manufacturing (publishing and logging) decreased 0.9 percent last month; it has fallen 6.5 percent during the past 12 months.

The output of utilities increased 2.1 percent in May, with identically sized gains in the indexes for both natural gas and electric utilities. Mining output inched up 0.1 percent in May and was 10.0 percent above its level of a year earlier. The increase in the mining index for May reflected gains in oil and natural gas extraction that were mostly offset by a large decline for oil and gas well drilling.

Capacity utilization for manufacturing moved up 0.1 percentage point in May to 75.7 percent, a rate that is 2.6 percentage points below its long-run average. The utilization rates for durable and nondurable manufacturing were little changed, while the rate for other manufacturing (publishing and logging) slipped 0.4 percentage point. Capacity utilization for mining dipped to 91.3 percent but remained well above its long-run average of 87.1 percent. The operating rate for utilities jumped to 77.5 percent; even so, it was still about 8 percentage points below its long-run average.

Revision of Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization

The Federal Reserve Board issued its annual revision to the index of industrial production (IP) and the related measures of capacity utilization on March 27, 2019. The Economic Census for 2017 was not available from the U.S. Census Bureau, so no new annual benchmark data were included for manufacturing. Other annual data, including information on the mining of metallic and nonmetallic minerals (except fuels), were incorporated. The updated IP indexes included revisions to the monthly indicator (either product data or input data) and to seasonal factors for each industry. In addition, the estimation methods for some series were changed. Modifications to the methods for estimating the output of an industry affected the index from 1972 to the present.

Capacity and capacity utilization were revised to incorporate data through the fourth quarter of 2018 from the U.S. Census Bureau's Quarterly Survey of Plant Capacity Utilization along with new data on capacity from the U.S. Geological Survey, the U.S. Department of Energy, and other organizations.

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: June 14, 2019