Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization - G.17

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Release Date: December 15, 2022

Industrial production declined 0.2 percent in November. Decreases of 0.6 percent for manufacturing and 0.7 percent for mining were partly offset by a rebound of 3.6 percent for utilities following three months of declines. At 104.5 percent of its 2017 average, total industrial production in November was 2.5 percent above its year-earlier reading. Capacity utilization moved down 0.2 percentage point in November to 79.7 percent, a rate that is 0.1 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 Nov. '21 to
Nov. '22
June[r] July[r] Aug.[r] Sept.[r] Oct.[r] Nov.[p] June[r] July[r] Aug.[r] Sept.[r] Oct.[r] Nov.[p]
       
Total index 103.9 104.5 104.4 104.8 104.7 104.5 -.2 .5 -.1 .4 -.1 -.2 2.5
Previous estimates 104.1 104.8 104.7 104.8 104.7   -.1 .7 -.1 .1 -.1    
       
Major market groups
Final Products 104.1 104.6 105.0 105.2 105.9 105.4 -.7 .4 .5 .1 .7 -.4 3.4
Consumer goods 104.2 104.4 104.6 104.5 105.3 104.8 -1.0 .2 .2 -.1 .7 -.4 1.8
Business equipment 96.8 97.5 98.4 99.0 99.5 98.7 -.2 .7 .9 .7 .5 -.8 5.7
Nonindustrial supplies 101.8 102.1 101.9 102.2 101.9 101.7 -1.0 .4 -.2 .3 -.3 -.2 .2
Construction 103.9 104.4 104.1 104.7 104.3 104.1 -1.2 .6 -.3 .6 -.4 -.2 -.7
Materials 104.4 105.1 104.6 105.3 104.7 104.6 .4 .6 -.4 .6 -.6 -.1 2.5
       
Major industry groups
Manufacturing (see note below) 101.1 101.5 101.6 102.0 102.2 101.6 -.8 .4 .1 .3 .3 -.6 1.2
Previous estimates 101.3 101.8 101.9 102.1 102.3   -.6 .5 .1 .2 .1    
Mining 115.4 116.9 116.7 118.8 118.0 117.2 1.6 1.3 -.2 1.8 -.7 -.7 6.3
Utilities 107.6 107.7 106.3 104.2 102.9 106.6 .5 .1 -1.3 -2.0 -1.3 3.6 4.6

Capacity utilization Percent of capacity Capacity
growth
Average
1972-
2021 		1988-
89
high 		1990-
91
low 		1994-
95
high 		 
2009
low 		 
2021
Nov. 		   
2022 Nov. '21 to
Nov. '22
June[r] July[r] Aug.[r] Sept.[r] Oct.[r] Nov.[p]
       
Total industry 79.6 85.2 78.8 85.0 66.6 79.0 79.7 80.0 79.9 80.1 79.9 79.7 1.6
Previous estimates             79.8 80.2 80.0 80.1 79.9    
       
Manufacturing (see note below) 78.2 85.6 77.3 84.7 63.4 78.7 78.9 79.1 79.1 79.3 79.5 78.9 1.0
Previous estimates             79.0 79.3 79.3 79.5 79.5    
Mining 86.3 86.2 84.3 88.6 78.9 85.9 87.8 88.6 88.2 89.6 88.9 88.2 3.6
Utilities 84.7 92.9 84.5 92.9 78.0 73.0 75.9 75.9 74.7 73.1 72.0 74.4 2.6
       
Stage-of-process groups
Crude 85.5 87.9 84.8 90.0 76.9 85.0 86.6 87.1 86.4 87.3 86.6 86.0 2.6
Primary and semifinished 80.1 86.5 78.0 87.8 63.5 78.0 78.4 78.7 78.3 78.2 77.8 78.1 1.0
Finished 76.7 83.3 77.5 80.7 66.4 77.6 78.2 78.4 78.9 79.1 79.6 78.8 1.6
[r] Revised. [p] Preliminary.
Market Groups

Decreases were broad based across market groups with the primary exceptions of consumer energy products, energy materials, and defense and space equipment. The output of consumer durables fell about 2 percent, led by automotive products, while the output of consumer non-energy nondurables decreased about 1/2 percent. The production of business equipment fell 0.8 percent, reflecting decreases for transit equipment and for industrial and other equipment. The indexes for construction supplies, business supplies, durable materials, and nondurable materials all declined 1/2 percent or less.

Industry Groups

Manufacturing output decreased 0.6 percent in November but remained 1.2 percent above its year-earlier level. The indexes for durable and nondurable manufacturing both declined 0.6 percent, and the index for other manufacturing (publishing and logging) slipped 0.4 percent. Within durables, increases were recorded by wood products, by computer and electronic products, and by aerospace and miscellaneous transportation equipment; these gains were outweighed by losses for other industries, particularly for motor vehicles and parts. Within nondurables, most industries registered decreases, with only printing and support posting an increase.

Mining output declined 0.7 percent. The indexes for oil and gas extraction and for oil and gas well drilling also each fell 0.7 percent; the decrease for drilling followed more than two years of nearly uninterrupted increases. The output of utilities strengthened 3.6 percent in November, as a decrease for natural gas utilities partly offset an increase for electric utilities.

Capacity utilization for manufacturing fell 0.6 percentage point in November to 78.9 percent, a rate that is 0.7 percentage point above its long-run average. The operating rate for mining fell 0.7 percentage point to 88.2 percent, while the operating rate for utilities increased 2.4 percentage points to 74.4 percent. Capacity utilization for mining was 1.9 percentage points above its long-run average, but the rate for utilities remained substantially below its long-run average of 84.7 percent.

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: December 15, 2022