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In August, industrial production rose 0.8 percent after falling 0.9 percent in July. Similarly, the output of manufacturing increased 0.9 percent in August after decreasing 0.7 percent during the previous month. This pattern was due in part to a recovery in the index of motor vehicles and parts, which jumped nearly 10 percent in August after dropping roughly 9 percent in July. The index for manufacturing excluding motor vehicles and parts moved up 0.3 percent in August. The index for mining climbed 0.8 percent, while the index for utilities was flat. At 103.1 percent of its 2017 average, total industrial production in August was the same as its year-earlier level. Capacity utilization moved up to 78.0 percent in August, a rate that is 1.7 percentage points below its long-run (1972–2023) average.

Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization: Summary

Market Groups

Most major market groups posted gains in August, with the jump in the output of motor vehicles and parts contributing to the strength recorded across a variety of categories. The index for consumer goods rose 0.7 percent, as a 10.5 percent increase in the index for automotive products more than offset a small decline in the index for nondurable consumer goods. Similarly, the index for business equipment stepped up 1.4 percent in August, supported by a 6.6 percent gain in the index for transit equipment. The index for materials grew 0.9 percent in August, with gains in all its subcomponents, including the index for durable goods materials, which rose 1.6 percent and was bolstered by the output of motor vehicle parts. Beyond the influence of motor vehicles and parts, defense and space equipment posted a gain of 0.5 percent and was 3.2 percent above its year-earlier level. Business supplies recorded the sole decline among major market groups, edging down 0.2 percent in August after decreasing 0.7 percent in July.

Industry Groups

Manufacturing output moved up 0.9 percent in August and was 0.2 percent above its year-earlier level. The index for durable manufacturing increased 2.1 percent in August after decreasing 1.5 percent in July, while the index for nondurable manufacturing moved down 0.2 percent in August. The output of other manufacturing (publishing and logging) increased 0.3 percent.

Apart from the large August jump in the output of motor vehicles and parts, gains of more than 1 percent within durable manufacturing were recorded in primary metals (3.2 percent), in electrical equipment, appliances, and components (2.0 percent), and in aerospace and miscellaneous transportation equipment (1.2 percent). The only decline among the durable manufacturing indexes was posted by miscellaneous durable manufacturing, which decreased 0.9 percent. Within nondurable manufacturing, declines in the indexes for printing and support (1.4 percent) and petroleum and coal products (2.3 percent) were partially offset by gains in the indexes for chemicals (0.4 percent) and paper (0.4 percent).

Mining output moved up 0.8 percent in August following a decline of 0.4 percent in July. The index for utilities moved sideways in August and was 0.9 percent below year-earlier levels.

Capacity utilization for manufacturing increased 0.6 percentage point to 77.2 percent in August, a rate that is 1.1 percentage points below its long-run (1972–2023) average. The operating rate for mining rose 0.8 percentage point to 90.0 percent, a rate that is 3.5 percentage points above its long-run average. The operating rate for utilities stepped down 0.2 percentage point to 70.5, well 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:

• Summary: Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization
• Chart 1: Industrial Production, Capacity, and Capacity Utilization
• Chart 2: Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization
• Chart 3: Industrial Production of Selected Industries
• Table 1: Industrial Production: Market and Industry Groups (percent change)
• Table 2: Industrial Production: Special Aggregates and Selected Detail (percent change)
• Table 3: Motor Vehicle Assemblies
• Table 4: Industrial Production Indexes: Market and Industry Group Summary
• Table 5: Industrial Production Indexes: Special Aggregates
• Table 6: Diffusion Indexes of Industrial Production
• Table 7: Capacity Utilization: Manufacturing, Mining, and Utilities
• Table 8: Industrial Capacity: Manufacturing, Mining, and Utilities (percent change)
• Table 9: Industrial Production: Gross Value of Products and Nonindustrial Supplies
• Table 10: Gross-Value-Weighted Industrial Production: Stage-of-Process Groups
• Table 11: Historical Statistics for IP, Capacity, and Utilization: Total Industry
• Table 12: Historical Statistics for IP, Capacity, and Utilization: Manufacturing
• Table 13: Historical Statistics for IP, Capacity, and Utilization: Total Industry excluding Selected High-Technology Industries
• Table 14: Historical Statistics for IP, Capacity, and Utilization: Manufacturing excluding Selected High-Technology Industries
• Table 15: Industrial Production: Reliability Estimates

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