Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization - G.17

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Release Date: May 17, 2022
Revision of Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization Notice Below

In April, total industrial production increased 1.1 percent—the fourth consecutive month of gains of 0.8 percent or greater—and manufacturing output rose 0.8 percent. The index for utilities moved up 2.4 percent, and the index for mining advanced 1.6 percent. At 105.6 percent of its 2017 average, total industrial production in April was 6.4 percent above its year-earlier level. Capacity utilization climbed to 79.0 percent, a rate that is 0.5 percentage point below its long-run (1972–2021) average.

Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization: Summary
Seasonally adjusted
Industrial production 2017=100 Percent change
2021 2022 2021 2022 Apr. '21 to
Apr. '22
Nov.[r] Dec.[r] Jan.[r] Feb.[r] Mar.[r] Apr.[p] Nov.[r] Dec.[r] Jan.[r] Feb.[r] Mar.[r] Apr.[p]
       
Total index 102.0 101.7 102.6 103.6 104.5 105.6 .7 -.3 .8 1.0 .9 1.1 6.4
Previous estimates 102.0 101.6 102.7 103.6 104.6   .8 -.4 1.0 .9 .9    
       
Major market groups
Final Products 101.7 101.4 102.3 103.4 104.3 105.3 .9 -.3 .9 1.1 .9 .9 6.3
Consumer goods 100.8 100.3 101.7 102.3 103.1 103.9 .9 -.5 1.3 .6 .8 .8 4.4
Business equipment 96.0 96.0 95.6 97.3 98.7 99.8 .7 .0 -.4 1.9 1.4 1.1 8.1
Nonindustrial supplies 100.1 99.6 100.3 101.7 101.9 102.7 1.2 -.5 .7 1.5 .2 .7 6.3
Construction 104.4 104.9 103.9 106.3 106.1 106.4 1.9 .5 -1.0 2.4 -.2 .3 6.3
Materials 102.8 102.6 103.5 104.3 105.4 106.8 .4 -.2 .8 .8 1.0 1.3 6.6
       
Major industry groups
Manufacturing (see note below) 100.5 100.4 100.3 101.6 102.5 103.2 .5 -.1 -.1 1.3 .8 .8 5.8
Previous estimates 100.5 100.4 100.5 101.7 102.6   .6 -.1 .2 1.2 .9    
Mining 108.9 109.3 109.8 110.1 112.2 114.0 .1 .4 .5 .2 1.9 1.6 8.6
Utilities 102.2 99.6 107.0 107.0 106.7 109.3 2.8 -2.6 7.5 .0 -.3 2.4 7.5

Capacity utilization Percent of capacity Capacity
growth
Average
1972-
2021 		1988-
89
high 		1990-
91
low 		1994-
95
high 		 
2009
low 		 
2021
Apr. 		   
2021 2022 Apr. '21 to
Apr. '22
Nov.[r] Dec.[r] Jan.[r] Feb.[r] Mar.[r] Apr.[p]
       
Total industry 79.5 85.2 78.8 85.1 66.6 74.8 76.6 76.4 76.9 77.6 78.2 79.0 .7
Previous estimates             76.6 76.3 77.0 77.7 78.3    
       
Manufacturing (see note below) 78.1 85.6 77.3 84.7 63.5 75.1 77.2 77.1 77.0 78.0 78.6 79.2 .3
Previous estimates             77.2 77.1 77.2 78.1 78.7    
Mining 85.9 86.0 83.8 88.3 78.3 74.2 77.3 77.5 77.7 77.7 79.0 80.1 .6
Utilities 84.8 93.1 84.6 93.2 78.0 73.4 72.7 70.7 75.9 75.7 75.4 77.0 2.4
       
Stage-of-process groups
Crude 85.2 87.7 84.6 89.7 76.5 75.1 77.8 77.7 77.9 78.3 79.5 80.3 .7
Primary and semifinished 80.0 86.5 78.1 87.9 63.5 74.5 75.8 75.3 76.4 77.5 77.7 78.5 .8
Finished 76.8 83.4 77.5 80.7 66.5 75.0 77.3 77.2 77.4 77.7 78.6 79.4 .3
[r] Revised. [p] Preliminary.
Market Groups

In April, all major market groups recorded gains, with most rising around 1 percent. A step-up in the production of motor vehicles and parts contributed to increases of 1.5 percent, 3.3 percent, and 1.1 percent for consumer durables, transit equipment, and durable materials, respectively. Within durable consumer goods, increases of more than 2-1/2 percent in the indexes for home electronics and for automotive products outweighed a decrease of 1-1/2 percent recorded by appliances, furniture, and carpeting. Business equipment and defense and space equipment each recorded gains of greater than 1 percent. The output of materials rose 1.3 percent, as both non-energy and energy materials increased 1.0 percent or more.

Industry Groups

Manufacturing output rose 0.8 percent in April and was 5.8 percent above its year-earlier level. The indexes for durable and nondurable manufacturing increased 1.1 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively, while the output of other manufacturing (publishing and logging) moved up 0.9 percent. Excluding an increase of 3.9 percent in the production of motor vehicles and parts, factory output rose 0.5 percent.

In April, most durable goods industries posted gains, with only nonmetallic mineral products; electrical equipment, appliances, and components; and furniture and related products recording losses. Within nondurables, only food, beverage, and tobacco products posted a notable increase (0.9 percent), and only plastics and rubber products posted a notable decrease (0.8 percent); the indexes for most other industries were little changed.

The gain in utilities in April reflected increases of 2.1 percent and 4.4 percent, respectively, for electric utilities and natural gas utilities. Mining output rose more than 1-1/2 percent for a second consecutive month. The index for mining in April was 8.6 percent above its year-earlier level but still 3.8 percent below its pre-pandemic (February 2020) level.

Capacity utilization for manufacturing increased 0.6 percentage point in April to 79.2 percent—the highest level since April 2007—and was above its long-run average by 1.1 percentage points. The operating rate for mining rose 1.1 percentage points to 80.1 percent, and the operating rate for utilities moved up 1.6 percentage points to 77.0 percent. Both rates remained well below their long-run averages.

Revision of Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization

The Federal Reserve Board plans to issue its annual revision to the indexes of industrial production (IP) and the related measures of capacity utilization on June 28, 2022. New annual benchmark data for manufacturing for 2020 will be incorporated, as well as other annual data, including information on the mining of metallic and nonmetallic minerals (except fuels). The updated IP indexes will include 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 may be changed. Any modifications to the methods for estimating the output of an industry will affect the index from 1972 to the present.

Capacity and capacity utilization will be revised to incorporate data for manufacturing through the fourth quarter of 2021 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: May 17, 2022