Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization - G.17

Current Release PDF  ASCII RSS Data Download

Release Date: October 18, 2022

Industrial production increased 0.4 percent in September and 2.9 percent at an annual rate in the third quarter. In September, manufacturing output rose 0.4 percent after advancing a similar amount in the previous month. The index for mining moved up 0.6 percent, and the index for utilities fell 0.3 percent. At 105.2 percent of its 2017 average, total industrial production in September was 5.3 percent above its year-earlier level. Capacity utilization moved up 0.2 percentage point in September to 80.3 percent, a rate that is 0.7 percentage point above its long-run (1972–2021) average.

Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization: Summary
Seasonally adjusted
Industrial production 2017=100 Percent change
2022 2022 Sept. '21 to
Sept. '22
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 104.3 104.2 104.1 104.9 104.8 105.2 .7 -.1 -.1 .7 -.1 .4 5.3
Previous estimates 104.3 104.2 104.2 104.7 104.5   .7 -.1 .0 .5 -.2    
       
Major market groups
Final Products 105.4 104.9 104.4 105.0 105.4 106.0 1.3 -.5 -.5 .6 .4 .6 5.5
Consumer goods 106.1 105.2 104.5 105.0 104.9 105.5 1.3 -.8 -.7 .5 -.1 .6 3.8
Business equipment 97.3 97.1 97.0 97.8 99.4 99.8 .9 -.2 -.1 .8 1.6 .5 8.2
Nonindustrial supplies 103.0 102.8 102.0 102.8 102.7 103.0 .2 -.2 -.8 .8 -.1 .2 3.5
Construction 105.0 105.1 104.0 104.9 104.5 105.6 -.3 .2 -1.1 .9 -.4 1.1 3.6
Materials 103.7 104.0 104.5 105.3 104.9 105.1 .3 .3 .4 .8 -.4 .3 5.8
       
Major industry groups
Manufacturing (see note below) 102.4 101.9 101.3 102.0 102.3 102.8 .4 -.4 -.6 .6 .4 .4 4.7
Previous estimates 102.4 102.0 101.5 102.1 102.2   .4 -.4 -.5 .6 .1    
Mining 112.3 113.6 115.5 116.9 116.9 117.7 .4 1.1 1.7 1.2 .0 .6 11.1
Utilities 106.7 107.0 107.3 107.8 104.2 103.8 3.5 .3 .3 .4 -3.3 -.3 .5

Capacity utilization Percent of capacity Capacity
growth
Average
1972-
2021 		1988-
89
high 		1990-
91
low 		1994-
95
high 		 
2009
low 		 
2021
Sept. 		   
2022 Sept. '21 to
Sept. '22
Apr.[r] May[r] June[r] July[r] Aug.[r] Sept.[p]
       
Total industry 79.6 85.2 78.8 85.0 66.6 77.4 80.2 80.0 79.8 80.3 80.1 80.3 1.5
Previous estimates             80.2 80.0 79.9 80.2 80.0    
       
Manufacturing (see note below) 78.2 85.6 77.3 84.7 63.4 77.1 80.0 79.6 79.1 79.5 79.7 80.0 .9
Previous estimates             80.0 79.7 79.2 79.6 79.6    
Mining 86.3 86.2 84.3 88.6 78.9 82.7 86.1 86.7 87.9 88.7 88.4 88.8 3.5
Utilities 84.7 92.9 84.5 92.9 78.0 74.3 75.6 75.7 75.7 75.9 73.2 72.8 2.6
       
Stage-of-process groups
Crude 85.5 87.9 84.8 90.0 76.9 81.5 85.3 85.8 86.8 87.4 87.1 87.2 2.5
Primary and semifinished 80.1 86.5 78.0 87.8 63.5 76.9 79.5 79.1 78.5 79.0 78.3 78.5 .9
Finished 76.7 83.3 77.5 80.7 66.4 76.5 79.1 78.8 78.4 78.7 79.2 79.5 1.6
[r] Revised. [p] Preliminary.
Market Groups

Most major market groups posted increases in September: Construction supplies recorded the largest gain (1.1 percent), while business supplies recorded the only decline (0.2 percent). Despite increasing for the month of September, the output of consumer goods decreased 0.6 percent at an annual rate in the third quarter, a noticeable slowdown from its rate of change of 3.1 percent in the second quarter. The index for materials rose 0.3 percent in September and was up 4.0 percent at an annual rate in the third quarter.

Industry Groups

Manufacturing output moved up 0.4 percent in September; the index increased 1.9 percent at an annual rate in the third quarter after gaining 3.2 percent in the second quarter. In September, the indexes for durable and nondurable manufacturing rose 0.5 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively, while the index for other manufacturing (publishing and logging) fell 0.7 percent. Within durables, gains of at least 1 percent were recorded by nonmetallic mineral products, fabricated metal products, computer and electronic products, and motor vehicles and parts; miscellaneous manufacturing posted the only loss of at least 1 percent. Within nondurables, declines in paper and in printing and support were outweighed by gains in food, beverage, and tobacco products; apparel and leather; chemicals; and petroleum and coal products.

Mining output rose 0.6 percent in September, supported by gains in oil and gas extraction as well as in other mining. The output of utilities declined 0.3 percent, as a decrease for electric utilities was partly offset by an increase for gas utilities. For the third quarter as a whole, the index for mining grew 12.4 percent and the index for utilities fell 6.5 percent (annual rates).

Capacity utilization for manufacturing increased 0.3 percentage point in September to 80.0 percent, a rate that is 1.8 percentage points above its long-run average. The operating rate for mining rose 0.4 percentage point to 88.8 percent, while the operating rate for utilities fell 0.4 percentage point to 72.8 percent. The rate for mining was 2.5 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.

G.17 Release Tables:

Back to Top
Last Update: October 18, 2022